


A Demonic Sky

by metamorcy



Series: Demonic Tsuna [1]
Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Demons, M/M, Multi, Romance, Smut, Supernatural Elements, but everything is okay, some Non-Con elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-04
Updated: 2013-08-27
Packaged: 2017-12-10 10:13:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 82,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/784901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/metamorcy/pseuds/metamorcy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU, I must have been out of my mind to make a contract with a demon, Reborn thought as he stared at the creature across him, Really Stupid. And it just has to be one that enjoys messing with him. Though he couldn't help but admit that having Tsuna around him made his missions so much easier. 27R/R27 and hints of 27All, mainly semeTsuna</p><p>Posted under Metamorcy on fanfiction</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Mission 1: Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Please note that Tsuna isn't completely OOC, just imagine this is the boss version of him and not the younger version. So that means, he's more mature, informative, and all that that goes with being a boss. Hope that clears up the personality issues. Though, you have to remember that this is semeTsuna and a demonic version of him. Please take that into consideration.
> 
> I'm adding this up since FF has been giving me some issues. I must warn that the updates will mostly be on FF so if you want to read future chapter (currently on chapter 18 on FF), you can search me up. I'm under the same username to make things easier.

A single candle was in the center of the room, its light casting some luminance upon the dark room and the shadows within appeared like it was eating the place alive by the way it move. It was almost like it was spreading rapidly from its original position from one place to another. The orange shade of light of the candle touched what it could, giving it a discolored hue and behind those objects, darkness continued to gather in large amounts.

The room the candle was in was small, square in shape, with a single metal door that was closed shut that prevented anything from outside from getting in or perhaps getting out as well. A table was on the opposite side, covered in loose papers and books thrown open with its pages revealed to the world around. Pens, pencils, and all sorts of other tools lay flat, and a chair was pulled out, cold from being exposed to the air for so long.

Diagrams and notes were posted on the wall above, covering the bricks that were once behind. Old dusty books lined the shelves that were leaning against the other two walls, all neatly placed despite the dust that was gathering on and around them. There were a few holes in those rows with a streak of a clearness lining upon the layer of dust where a book had been pulled out.

Shadows danced across the ground, flicking and dancing as the fire on the candle did. The light revealed the floor that was decorated in red paint-like substance, which is shaped as an outer circle that held the single candle in the center with multiple markings and designs sketched within. Writings of a language not known to humans were perfectly printed with strange symbols colored more deeply with the red paint.

At the outer edge stood a man, staring directly into the candle, and looked over the work he had managed to do. He wore a black fedora with a yellow band wrapped around the top and tilted it to the side to see better within the limited light and pulled out his hands from his pants pockets. His arms folded neatly across his chest, making sure not to wrinkle his black suit too badly, with a yellow button-up shirt inside the jacket and a tie neatly placed at the dead center. Dark eyes stared out at the circle, double-checking everything, his mind going over the designs one more time. If a single thing was to go wrong, he knew it would ruin everything, and that was something he couldn't allow.

As soon as he decided that everything looked okay, that everything seemed to be in the right place, he began to chant, his smooth deep voice radiating within the room and vibrating evenly with clarity. As he did so, the air seemed to shift to some nonexistent wind, moving his curly sideburns that were against his cheeks and his spiky black hair that was tucked underneath the hat, and seemed to grow stronger as the man continued to chant. Soon the candle flickered to a bright glow, the color of the flame changing to a red color and went ablaze within the enclosed space. The red markings on the floor glowed, the symbols shifted quickly, and the man continued to stare in wonder, confusion evident on his face, but continued on, never stopping his words.

Soon after, the wind stopped suddenly and the flame went back to normal. The man narrowed his eyes at that, grumbling under his breath. He had failed. He hadn't completed his summoning spell. Cursing under his breath, he took a step forward to restart everything when he peered over the writings once more and blinked when he saw them still glowing.

"Human," a voice rang out, putting the man on defense, his body visibly tensing up immediately, and reached into his jacket to pull out a gun. There was a soft chuckle at that action. "Your weapon there cannot harm me."

"But it can at least do some damage," the man huffed, taking the safety off his gun and aimed into the darkness that seemed to have enveloped the other side of the room. He felt a presence within it and heard the shifting of something like wings being flapped. "I take it that you're not the information demon, the Marcket."

"I doubt I look like that fool," the other voice chuckled once more, the squeaking of the chair moving to the side caught the human's ears. "What's your name, human?"

"And why should I give it to you? Depending on what type of demon you are, that could very well be giving up my soul."

"I'm not interested in your soul," the demon chuckled, stepping forward but not close enough for the candle light to catch his form. He remained hidden, no part of his body shown, but Reborn could make out a lining of something that looked like a human, that was it. "What's your name?"

"Tch, Reborn."

"Reborn, then," Slowly, the creature stepped out from the darkness, letting the human see his complete form. The candle's flame seemed to flicker as he got closer and didn't seem to care that Reborn's eyes were trailing over his demonic being. The demon had soft caramel-colored hair that seemed to defy gravity as it stuck out in multiple directions with a horn curved inward in a circle right above both ears. The skin was pale in color but smooth and a black tail flickered from behind the body. Bright honey-colored eyes stared out from behind those long brown bangs, looking directly into Reborn's dark-colored ones, with the pupils shaped like that of a cat. "What were you summoning for?"

"Well," the human started, narrowing his eyes at the question. "I was supposed to summon the Marcket for information on a demon that's been disturbing the populace lately but instead I got you." he stepped back so he could turn on the lights to get a better visual of the field. He wasn't going to try and fight in a dark room where a demon could easily have the advantage. Not only that, he wasn't even sure on what kind of demon this one was. In his field, each monster was different and with that had different skills, he wasn't stupid enough to fight against one without knowing their abilities or destructive capabilities. He didn't want any surprises that could easily end his life.

"Oh?" the demon huffed, turning to the side as he looked over the records that lined the shelves and walked towards them in curiosity. He plucked one of the books and stared at the cover, examining it, before going to the next one. "So I take it you're a hunter, a well-trained one as well. You have some good information right here, but most of it is just crap or incomplete. Do you really think you can know all of a demon's capabilities before you kill them off?"

"These were written by brave hunters that fought these monsters and won." Reborn glared, edging back further, and managed to flick on the lights to get a better look at his enemy. Now able to see the brunet better, the demon looked like he was only in his later teens to early twenties but Reborn knew better than to trust the outer appearances. The shorts the burnet was wearing were black with red lining the bottom only going down to his mid upper leg.

"So, what type of demon is it?" the brunet continued to look through the books, not caring about the so called weapon that was being aimed at his head.

Reborn hesitated in answering for a moment before doing so. "I'm not sure about that. All I know is that it's a powerful troublesome one. I never got a good chance to get a look at it. It keeps vanishing then reappearing elsewhere."

The demon snorted. "That's not a really good description. Even the Marcket wouldn't be able to help you with that." Moving over, the brunet placed the book back into its original spot before going for another one, quickly reading over the information as he flipped through the pages. "You need more information like what it looks like or what its powers are."

The human narrowed his eyes, growling. "And why should I give that to you?"

"Because the Marcket is dead."

This made the hunter pause. "What?"

"The Marcket is dead so I came in his stead." the brunet rolled his eyes, walking over to the human without a care in the world and stared him down or well up, considering he was shorter in size, shoving the gun to the side. Reborn tried to resist, but the little demon had a strength that was unmatched. "I'm just temporarily taking his place until another demon can take over and become the next Marcket. It probably won't take long though, maybe in a few days or so."

"I see. But why you?"

Smirking, the demon went on. "Because I'm the next best informative on demons and demonic affairs. I'm also good with human affairs as well, but it's quite pointless when there are no humans around. I originally wasn't exactly keen on the idea of being the temporary Marcket, but it was a favor for Byakuran."

Reborn blinked, eyes momentarily going wide for a moment before narrowing them once more. The information he was getting off this demon was different than other records he had gotten. Of course, he knew that some things were limited since many were only gained through battles and many didn't always survive to tell the tale. "I've heard of a lot of demons' names, but I don't recognize that one."

"You wouldn't, most low class demons aren't aware of affairs within their realm much less the head bosses that are running everything. So because those demons don't know anything, in turn, neither does the humans. I won't bother much though since these said bosses don't like to bother with human affairs, much less come up here to deal with them unless necessary. So basically, you leave them alone and they'll do the same." the brunet huffed, shifting his weight to the side of that his right hip was protruding out.

"So then what now?" Reborn asked, staring at the demon with question. If this demon was actually telling the truth and was the temporary Marcket, then he would need to ask this one about the information he needed. But he had already stated what he knew and was well aware that it wasn't enough to find out what kind of demon he was after. "Would you be able to tell what kind of demon it is if you saw it?"

The demon glanced over, wiggling his nose. "Of course." he took a step forward, shifting his hips to the side again, and folded his arms. His tail flicked for a moment behind and the black wings flexed in response.

Smirking, the hunter stepped forward, putting away his gun seeing as there was no need for it anymore at this moment. "Then perhaps you should come with me? It'll make my job much easier." he tilted his fedora to the side, covering his left eye, and his curly sideburns bounced slightly as he moved. The darkness in the room was gone and he could see everything clearly, the table that had been hidden in that blackness revealed all his papers that was on it.

The demon hummed to himself for a moment, taking the offer in consideration, before smiling softly. His honey-colored eyes peered over the hunter in curiosity and swung his tail slightly. "Sure why not? I have nothing better to do. It's been a while since I've been in the mortal realm, it'll be a nice change." Unfolding his arms, he placed them on his hips. "Just so you know, my name is Tsuna, and don't think you can just kill me off that easily. And I have no plans on helping a hunter out so you're fighting on your own. Of course, I won't bother helping the demon's side either."

Reborn nodded, agreeing with those terms. "As long as you stay out of the fight and don't harm anymore, I have no issues." Glancing down at his watch that was hidden underneath his button-up shirt's sleeve, he grumbled. "It's already eleven o'clock, the demon should already be out and prowling. We'll head out immediately." he didn't give the brunet a chance to reply before he turned around to open the door, letting in a gust of wind. Lights from outside flooded the room and he headed out into the main area, well aware of the other that was following behind with those almost silent footsteps.

The high boots the demon was wearing had an inch or two of heels but still remained quiet when walking, something that didn't seem normal unless he had been trained in the art of stealth. Reborn pushed that thought of mind since he too had the same ability, his black leather shoes not making a sound on the tiled floors. As they passed by the living room of his place, Tsuna seemed to take in the surroundings, peering at and studying everything he could and looked tempted to take off a few things to examine something more clearly. Reborn raised an eyebrow at the curious nature of the demon, never having met something like this before, much less such a docile demon, but shook his head at that thought, knowing he had other things to worry about.

"Hey," the hunter called out, catching Tsuna's attention. "Do you sense anything outside? Any other demonic presence?"

The brunet blinked and closed his eyes for a moment, concentrating on his surroundings. After what seemed like seconds, he opened his large honey-colored eyes to look back at the human. "It's faint, but I do sense something similar to what you're looking for. I wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't been concentrating hard enough and it's quite far away, making it a little tougher to sense. Whatever kind of demon it is, it's hiding its presence very well, a human wouldn't be able to sense it at all."

"How far exactly?"

"I'd say about 20-30 miles? It'll be easier to tell if I was closer."

"So I'll need the car. Come on," Reborn huffed, not exactly happy that the demon was so far away. He grabbed his keys and exited the house, going straight to his car that was parked nearby. Tsuna continued to follow along and immediately got into the front passenger seat, eyeing the mechanics of the vehicle. "What? Never been in a car before?"

Tsuna just blinked. "I have. But it was over two hundred years ago. Things are different now and more advance. There's no need for such things in the demonic world when we can fly, teleport, or run extremely fast." Snapping his fingers, his large wings disappeared and leaned back with ease, letting his tail wrap around his waist. Reborn didn't say anything, buckling up, and turned on the engine, driving off instantly. Tsuna watched the other and followed suit, taking in his surroundings pass by in a flash, eyeing the flashing lights of the city.

'This feels so odd.' Reborn thought to himself, glancing over to the brunet for a moment. 'I have a demon in my car that isn't trying to eat or maul me. Damn, what a day.'


	2. Mission 1: Part 2

'This feels so odd,' Reborn thought to himself, glancing over to the brunet for a moment. 'I have a demon in my car that isn't trying to eat or maul me. Damn, what a day.'

Mentally sighing, he concentrated on the road, driving off into the direction Tsuna had pointed out, hoping that that presence was the demon he had been after. He didn't want to have any detours. Every second they wasted was letting another life be killed and be taken away to be eaten. It was a terrible thought to have in this type of business, but it was a common concept. Reborn glanced over to the demon to get a better examination to see if he could spot any lies, but he couldn't. The brunet was too good.

"What?" Tsuna asked, peering over to the human, turning away from the window. His long bangs framed his face elegantly and his honey-colored eyes seemed to give off an orange hue in the passing streetlights with the light reflecting off of it just right.

"Hmm?"

"You keep staring at me. What is it?"

"I'm not."

The demon grumbled under his breath and propped his elbow up against the door, leaning against it. "Sure..." he paused for a moment before speaking again, "So why are you after this demon?"

Reborn, at first, didn't answer, not wanting to bother with the little creature beside him before deciding he might as well. It was probably best if the other knew what was going on and why he wanted to kill one of his kind. "It's killed and eaten twenty-six people. It has the tendency to attack families at home during the night and leave no one alive. The way it does it is…quite terrible. I've seen a couple of its works and I don't want it to happen anymore, that, and I'm being paid to kill it."

"I see. Is it just eating or mutilating the bodies?" Tsuna asked curiously, leaning further over to the window, eyeing the lights in the distance.

"Mutilating. But I have seen some of the bodies torn apart with some organs missing."

Tsuna narrowed his eyes at that and huffed. "And you said that it has a mist-like body?"

"Figuring the demon out?"

"I have a couple of suspicions, but I need more information than just a 'mist-like body'. How does it attack?" Tsuna rubbed the bottom of his chin, bringing his legs up against his chest, crossing them.

"Looks like it has claws of some sort," Reborn huffed when he received a look from the demon. "I never had a chance to get a good look at it, just the remains of what it has done. So far, I've never been able to tell where it's going to attack next. I don't get to hear anything until the morning after when the bodies have been found and it's all over the news. I was only able to see it once when I managed to arrive just after it killed the family, but it got away as soon as I saw it."

Tsuna remained quiet, thinking deeply over the information. He had a finger on his lips and his eyes were closed, eyebrows narrowed. "With claws...that narrows it down to six demons with one of them not exactly the nicest to mess with, but two of them are peaceful types so I highly doubt they would just simply attack like this," he picked up his head suddenly and pointed towards a direction not too far away. "Over there, in that apartment complex."

In the distance, just a couple of feet away was a large twenty-story building, some lights still on despite how late in the night it was, but most had been turned off except those that seemed to belong to the hallways. Reborn cursed under his breath, dealing with these types of places like this was always troublesome since it involved more people and lots of security cameras. It was easier to become a suspect during these hunts when someone got killed and it was always hard to explain to the police that they were not done by him, but by a mystical creature. Though he had a few people in the department that knew about his business, it still took time to get things straightened out and time meant lives to Reborn.

Parking close by to the complex, he stepped out, peering over the levels and numerous windows. He would have to guess that there were about thirty rooms on each level and with twenty of them...that was too many to search through. Tsuna noticed the frustration that was showing in the hunter's eyes and reached over to tug the black suit gently, catching the black-haired man's attention. "Twelfth floor, far left." Snapping his fingers again, the horns that was on the brunet's head vanished as did the tail, leaving him almost looking bare in comparison to before.

If Reborn hadn't known that Tsuna was a demon, he might not have noticed since the brunet now looked like an average human with odd clothes. And Tsuna gave absolutely no presence of being a demon and seemed to blend his aura in with everything around him, unlike most other demons that gave off a dark presence. Reborn could tell instantly that this demon definitely had intelligence, too much, and was extremely powerful. 'Well seeing as he's the Marcket, he has to be intelligent.' Most demons he had fought in the past weren't exactly the smartest things, a few a bit tricky to figure out, but they were easy to kill.

However, this one was different than any demon he had met before. He could immediately tell that if he went against the demon beside him, he would have trouble. It definitely wouldn't be an easy battle and there was a high chance he could be killed without being able to put up a fight. Reborn knew that though he was known as a high level demon hunter, there were still demons out there that could kill him, and he wasn't stupid to fight something he couldn't win against. That was probably the one thing that differentiated him from the other hunters besides his top-rate skills and mind and probably kept him alive.

Heading into the building, they passed by the security desk with ease without any looks or questions and entered the elevators, pressing the button to head on up. The shitty music that was played was annoying as they waited for the doors to open and when it did, they were expecting many things, but not what was revealed before their eyes. The hunter grinded his teeth together in frustration, tempted to look away, but didn't while Tsuna stared as if something like this was normal. Red decorated the walls as if it was paint and corpses and body parts were tossed around, blood pooling on the floor like it was water.

Reborn growled, immediately going on edge at the sight, and stepped out cautiously, expecting any attack to happen. He walked over the bodies, making sure not to step on anything. All the doors on the floor were wide open, but it was all silent, there was no screaming, nothing. Tsuna followed behind, jumping over the corpses, and tilted his head at the massacre without any care in his eyes, but didn't say a thing for Reborn's sake, just pointing to the direction where he could now clearly sense the demon. Reborn went ahead, quietly hurrying towards the direction and went to the door the brunet pointed out. He peered in, able to hear some squishing sounds echoing from the silent place, and spotted the demon over some bodies, devouring the flesh. Organs were torn apart and Reborn felt a little queasy at seeing a part of the small intestines getting sucked into the mouth like it was spaghetti. Taking aim, he fired.

There was a roar and the mist-like substance spread out from the body, Reborn ducked behind a wall within the room to prevent himself from getting covered by it, not bothering on keeping an eye out for the brunet demon. He had more concerning matters to deal with. He fired a few more times at the substance, not sure if he was actually hitting something or the wall behind. When his ears picked up the sound of glass breaking, he paused, noticing that the window behind the demon was shattered and then spotted more bullet holes in the walls. Cursing, he stared at the mist, able to see large white teeth and glowing yellow eyes.

There was a chuckle from the monster, knowing that those bullets had simply passed through it, and Reborn sneered in return. Then it struck. Immediately the hunter dodged to the side, just missing those deadly claws from slicing him in half and rolled to the side before dodging once more. Putting enough distance between the two, he fired again, still missing. "Damn it, just how do I kill you?"

"Light."

Reborn snapped his head to the side where Tsuna was standing by the doorway, looking unfazed by the scene. "What?"

"You need to use light magic spells on him. That's his main weakness," Tsuna spoke, not caring if the demon turned on him or not. He folded his arms and took a step forward. "This demon is known as Slicer, the real name for it has been long forgotten so everyone just calls their kind that. Be careful, these guys are fast, smart and enjoy splattering blood from their victims everywhere. But it's a mid-class demon, powerful enough to take out the average hunter, but with the right spells and weapons, it wouldn't be a problem. The Slicer isn't a well-liked being in Hell, it has the tendency to kill its own kind for fun."

Storing that information in his mind, Reborn realized there was one large problem. "I don't know any light magic! What else can I do to kill it?"

Tsuna huffed and tilted his head, thinking. The Slicer made a swing at him and he simply jumped to the side, dodging with ease. "That might be troublesome since other attacks aren't really effective and its body is immune to physical attacks. Do you know any magic?"

"Do I look like I do?" he fired off a few more rounds to distract the Slicer. "I know only a few fire and wind spells, but those take time to cast. I'll be killed even before starting the first incantation."

Sprouting out his wings, Tsuna took flight, still able to dodge the attacks and fluttered over to Reborn's side. "I know light spells."

The hunter stared in question. "I thought demons can't use light magic..."

"Most, I can, however. But you owe me, I don't like doing these types of things for free and you already got the information for free simply because of the agreement shared between the hunters and the original Marcket."

Reborn stared, glaring at the little demon, before running to the side to miss a claw from crashing down at his spot. The wood boards underneath splintered and the floor vibrated at the force. There was a loud roar from the Slicer and it struck again, going after the human since it was the weaker of the two. A claw managed to strike Reborn's left arm, drawing blood. Luckily enough for the man, it wasn't deep, though it stung like a bitch. "Tch..." He hated demons with a passion, they were all tricky little weasels. They were nothing more than destructive beings that enjoyed toying with humans and then slaughtering them in mere fun. However, he couldn't deny that there were some demons out there that were beyond a human's ability and there was no way he would have the ability to fight them when they were different from each other. Reborn cursed, he was starting to consider the idea. "And what will this deal mean?"

Tsuna smiled softly and jumped up before kicking the Slicer to the side, slamming it into the walls regardless of its mist-like body. He didn't want anything to interrupt him from speaking. "It'll be a contract of a sort. After they find a replacement for the Marcket, I'll no longer be needed and won't really have an excuse to come up to the mortal realm. It gets boring down below after so many hundreds of years, especially when there's not much to do nowadays," he pouted at the idea of remaining down below in dullness continuously every day. "So I'll help you out with your jobs and you keep me fed. Simple."

"Simple?" the hunter cursed, not sure on who to concentrate on more, the brunet demon or the Slicer. "You're going to kill me! How can I agree with that?"

"I said fed, not eat," Tsuna huffed. "I'm a demon that feeds on sexual pleasure, or blood if necessary, an incubus by your terms. I'm sure that someone of your nature can keep up with me." his honey-colored eyes turned orange slightly, eyeing Reborn's body greedily, and licked his lips. "Anyway, it's not as if that will kill you, I'm not after your soul or your flesh," his tail, which suddenly appeared, flickered behind and he settled on the top of a couch, quickly blasting some magic towards the enemy demon to keep it away. The Slicer growled angrily, the mist that surrounded its body dissipating slightly. "What say you, human?"


	3. Mission 1: Part 3

_"What say you, human?"_

The hunter sneered, glancing between Tsuna and the Slicer. He only had a limited time to make his decision and he only hoped he didn't choose the wrong one. "Fine. I'll do it."

The brunet smiled happily and slipped over to Reborn's side, making one last blast of magic to keep the other demon away. "Good." Reaching over, he grabbed the hunter's right arm and pulled it up to his mouth, letting his fangs show. He licked the top of his lips, pulling the jacket sleeve back to the elbow, and bit down into that smooth skin, letting his fangs sink into the flesh. The human let out a little gasp, eyes wide in shock, and gnawed down on his bottom lip at the pain. But a second afterwards, that pain seemed to vanish and an odd course of numbness filled in the space, spreading out rapidly among his right extremity. It was during that time, he felt it. That wonderful addicting sensation that seemed to burn his body pleasantly, coursing through his veins, and it didn't stop at his arm. That sensation went through his entire body.

Reborn immediately bit down on his bottom lip again, this time to prevent a scream from escaping his lips and stared below as the demon sucked on his flesh, drawing out blood from his arteries. He felt his legs shake, his mind momentarily going blank for a second, and a groan slipped through. But that feeling went away once the demon released his hold on him. It was like he was being pulled back into reality, his mind spinning and seeing floating spots in his vision before the hunter forced himself to focus on his situation. He still had a mass murdering demon on the loose and in the same room as him.

His dark eyes peered down at Tsuna, watching as the brunet licked his lips greedily, as if savoring the taste of blood on his tongue. Those plump lips looked like they had a dark shade of lipstick on by how red the color was, but Reborn knew better. Tsuna seemed to be smiling, moving over to take Reborn's right arm once more, and licked the spot he had attacked. The instant he did, the wound he left healed instantly, the flesh mending itself back together. "Not bad, you taste quite good. There's some power running through your veins, but that's to be expected if you're able to use magic. It's unrefined, but that should be easy to fix."

Pulling away from the hunter, the brunet turned to the Slicer with a wicked grin. His wings were spread out, his horns appeared once more, looking like he did when he had been first summoned. The pressure of power seemed to press down on the room and for a moment, the Slicer seemed to pause, those glowing eyes wide with a flicker of fear. "Now to deal with you, be gone!" With that, a blast of light set off from his fingertips and Reborn closed his eyes at the blinding flash, able to still hear the screech from the monster. And then it was silent. Cautiously, he opened his eyes and noticed immediately that the Slicer was gone, the dark presence it brought vanished from the air.

All there was left was Tsuna standing right before him. The demon turned around, folding his wings back and tilted his head as he looked down at the hunter. "There done, it's dead," As Tsuna came closer to the human, he reached out to touch the left arm that was bleeding lightly, pulling the jacket back so to get a better visual of the cut. With a quick flicker of his hand, the wound instantly closed up and for a second, Reborn thought that some blood had slipped back inside. The hunter couldn't say anything, he didn't know what to say, but there were questions burning in his eyes and stiffened when he was pulled closer to the demon's warm body. "We should escape right now. The Slicer's spell over this place is now broken."

"Spell?"

"Yes, the spell that was keeping outsiders from finding out what was happening in here. That's why there was no panic among those that were keeping watch over this place. Those humans below that watch the cameras can now see the dead bodies that litter the ground. It will not take long for them to respond."

Reborn grumbled in annoyance, but didn't argue, knowing that it was true. At this current time, it would be impossible to explain how they were in the middle of a sea of corpses without being pointed out instantly as the murderers themselves. But how to leave? That was the question Reborn repeated in his mind. They would be revealed the moment they stepped out those doors, caught by the cameras outside in the hallways. They could already be considered suspects simply for entering this place during the time of the murders. As his thoughts tried to situate himself in his current predicament, he noticed Tsuna flapping his wings gently and wraps his arms around his waist, tightening the hold on him. Before the man could question what the other was doing, Tsuna answered. "We're flying out of here, hang on."

Reborn twitched. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Nope. Unless, of course, you have a better plan. I've already placed a barrier around us so they can't see us. I did it just in case when we first entered the building," Tsuna lifted the human up with ease, and went over towards the scattered window. Reborn clung to the demon's neck, his feet dangling out from below, refusing to let himself get carried in that damn bridal style, before looking down at the world below. It was a far way down...he wouldn't survive from a fall at this height. Tsuna's voice snapped Reborn back into reality. "We're going." Before the hunter could say anything, Tsuna took off, soaring through the sky with ease, making his way down to the next building over.

There was no moon outside, meaning no light, and the clouds heavily cluttered the sky, blending in with each other into one dark patch. Tsuna went over the roof of the building and floated down behind it, disappearing into the alleyway. Reborn grumbled, unable to take a good look around the world above in the air, but was just glad that he was able to have his feet on the ground once more. He wasn't scared of heights or flying, he was just scared of dying because someone else was in control. Hiding his relieved sigh, he pulled away from that warm grasp and ran forward to the end of the alleyway, looking out into the street. He saw no one around, the streets bare and empty, knowing it was safe to head towards the car. It had been a good thing he had parked in the outside area of the apartment complex.

Tsuna, right behind, perked up slightly as he leaned down to get into the car, his extra attachments gone once more. "I hear sirens, the police are already on their way."

"Then that's our cue to get out of here," Reborn grumbled, turning on the car, and raced off. He didn't want to stick around after this mess. As he passed through empty streets, heading away from the source of noise, he knew he was now in the clearing...except he wasn't. His dark eyes turned towards his demonic passenger. "Well, what now?" Tsuna didn't answer, staring ahead, curled up on the seat once more. "Am I supposed to call you whenever I have a job? And I never got the chance to hear much about this so called deal."

"No, I'll stick around and stay at your place. You're lucky that I'm a fair demon, I'm not one to take advantage of humans in their vulnerable states most of the time unless necessary," Tsuna closed his eyes for a moment, before opening them to peer back at Reborn. "The deal is simple. I will protect you, keep you alive, and help you with your jobs. That doesn't mean I will listen to your directions or commands since you didn't ask for it, but please note, I am not one of those idiotic demons that go around killing everything in sight, much less one that will make your life as miserable as possible. I am much more intelligent than that."

"And I just need to keep you from going hungry by offering you my body. Just great," the hunter grumbled, making a quick turn. "What a wonderful day this is turning out to be."

"If you're uncomfortable about having sex with me, I can simply take your blood for the time being. But please remember that sooner or later, I'll need more to supply myself than something temporary. I will give you time to adjust to my presence."

Pulling to a stop at a light, Reborn leaned back against the chair, feeling a headache coming on. There was just something odd about this demon, something he couldn't place his finger on. Why was he trying so hard to stay in this realm? Much less being kind to a demon hunter who had killed many of his kind. It didn't make sense. "Why can't you go back?"

Tsuna smiled at that, it was like Reborn had asked the right question. "I can, but you know, human lives disappear before us in a flash. You do not have the chance to know true boredom, to know things that are beyond the human mind simply because you don't live as long. I've been in Hell for most of my life, doing the same thing over and over again. For my job, I am no longer needed in the times of peace. I am only useful when there is a battlefield and I cannot simply make one appear without consequences in my world. So I sit and sit, waiting for something to come along so that I can do something. So when I saw you in trouble, forgive me, but I decided to take advantage of the situation, regardless of me saying I don't like doing such things, so that I would have something to do for the next couple of years. It is much better than my previous job."

Reborn didn't know what to say to that, but at least he got answers. The demon had just been bored completely out of his fucking mind so he was desperate to find something to do. 'Well, regardless, the extra help will come in handy. I could probably take on harder jobs than before without having to worry about my life. No, I can't depend solely on Tsuna. I need to work on my own and only let him help me when needed. Still, having a demon stay in my home isn't exactly a wonderful thought, but it shouldn't be any trouble since the place is big enough to fit two.'

The brunet leaned against the door, closing his eyes for a moment as if resting but Reborn knew better. The demon was wide awake, his senses on full alert. "Besides, you have a demon trailing your place."

Reborn almost slammed the breaks. " _What?_ "

"There's a demon outside your place that was watching you the entire time."

"And you didn't say anything about this _before_?"

"You were only after the Slicer, it wasn't my concern for anything else. I was simply giving you the information you desired. Now, it's different," Tsuna huffed, stretching his legs out before bringing them back up so he could wrap his arms around them. He placed his head up on top and tilted it to the side so he could get a better study at Reborn. "Do not worry, it's just a weak little demon, a simple barrier will keep it out without any trouble. If it becomes an annoyance, I will kill it for you." he stared at the hunter with critical eyes. "You do know how to create barriers, right?"

"Of course," Reborn couldn't help but snort at the question. "It's basic knowledge a hunter must know."

"What kind of barrier?"

This made Reborn pause. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, what kind of barrier do you know? There are hundreds of different types, some that only work in specific settings."

"And I should tell you this why?" Reborn was met with a stare that basically translated into 'why else'. He grumbled, he didn't like letting any demons know any of his abilities. But since they were contracted together, he might as well. It just meant he would need to be careful of what he revealed, he didn't want to leave any openings for something to be used against him. "I know how to do protection seals and create a cannto. The ones that protect over a large area like the main hunter base are santros, but I can't conjure something like that up."

Tsuna wiggled his nose. "Those won't last long. Santros are good against weak demons, but have little to no effect on more powerful demons. For example, that Slicer would have been able to get through it with ease, luckily there aren't very many middle-class demons running amok. A cannto is good towards more powerful ones, however, they only last a limited amount of time as do protection seals, but much shorter. Your best bet is a santros for continuous protection." As Tsuna finished up the discussion, they arrived back to Reborn's home, hopping right out of the car and went up the steps, following the hunter. Reborn noticed that the brunet tossed a glance back into the distance and followed it curiously just in time to see a shadow moved behind a house. The warning Tsuna had given him earlier appeared to be completely true. He almost went on alert and reached for his gun instinctively, but stopped when the demon went under his arms and into the building. Looking between the two places, Reborn followed soon after, deciding that the threat wasn't all that bad if Tsuna wasn't reacting violently.

"So where do you plan on staying in my house?" Reborn sneered, still not happy about the fact that he would have a demon in his one safe place from the rest of the world, staying with him as he tried to sleep. The hunter doubted he would be getting any rest tonight while keeping one eye open the entire time for any movement in the darkness.

"Probably just wander about," Tsuna settled onto one of the couches in the living room and began messing with the controller for the TV. "Don't worry, I won't kill or attack you while you're sleeping."

The hunter snorted. "I don't trust demons and their lies."

"And I don't trust human and their two-timing faces, so there," Lying down onto the couch, he snuggled closer to the cushions and flicked his tail so show he was content at the moment. He shifted the pillow closer and held it underneath him as he watched some random show. "Anyway, I made a contract with you. No point in killing you now. Not only that, demons caught breaking their contracts, unless with a good reason, are severely punished. I'm not taking any chances."

"Unless with a good reason?"

"Like you if asks me to turn against the Tri-Ni-Set."

This made Reborn pause, glancing over the couch to look at the still curled up demon. He almost wanted to laugh at the way the other reacted towards comfortable things, almost like a cat. "Tri-Ni-Set?"

The demon turned over, those large but sharp honey-colored orbs peering at him with an emotion that Reborn couldn't decipher. "You don't know? Well, I don't blame you, low-class demons wouldn't really know and the middle-class ones aren't all there yet. The Tri-Ni-Set is the highest rank of the demons in the upper class. It's a small group of three that controls the rest of the demons. Kinda like a King and/or Queen in your world. They control the politics and battles among other things. But yeah, if you were to tell me to go against them, I am allowed to turn against you, kill you, and skip out of being punished by the rules they have set up to keep the relationship between humans and demons in balance. They were the ones that created the punishment if we were to break the contract," Tsuna lifted himself up for a moment, leaning against the top of the couch so he could look better at the hunter. "Anyway, it might be best to ask me this sort of stuff later. I can tell that your moral body is starting to fall apart, I suggest sleeping and resuming the questions at a better time."

"Fine, fine." Waving his hand, Reborn knew the demon was right. Today's events were starting to caught up to him, his muscles were hurting appallingly, and his eyes were barely able to remain open. Reborn huffed, mumbling words under his breath before heading towards his room. He wanted nothing more than to get some rest, it was almost four in the morning and it was starting to take its toll on him. The demon hunting had taken almost all night, well, at least he was more of a nocturnal type of person. It made his lifestyle easier to deal with.

Taking one last glance back at the brunet, who had went back to watching the show, he closed his bedroom door, locking it just in case out of habit before looking over himself. He would need to change his clothes before going to sleep, he didn't want to risk getting his bed dirty, that would be more pain to deal with. Making sure that some protection seals were placed up in terms of defense from the other and his gun was next to his head, he went to bed hoping that he wouldn't be attacked while he slept.

* * *

The next morning, Reborn felt two pair of hands gently tugging on his side. He made a small grunt and motioned the hands to stop and they did for a moment before continuing again. Grumbling, the hunter wanted nothing more than to continue sleeping, the bed and blankets that were wrapped around him were so comfy, everything was just so warm and delightful, but then he remembered he had a guest. Snapping open his eyes, his hands shot out towards his gun only to find that it wasn't there. Glaring at the intruder who dared to wake him up, he was prepared for anything except Tsuna standing there with a pout.

"Do humans normally sleep this long?" he asked curiously, the gun being held by his tail. "I mean, all the other humans are up and about and you're still here."

"We humans aren't like you. We need sleep and rest to keep going every day. And I went to bed late at night so it should be expected that I get up late as well," Reborn growled, not sure if he should try going for his weapon in resistance or remain where he was at. Tsuna didn't seem to want to harm him and eventually flicked the gun over, letting the hunter take hold of it. Feeling much safer with his weapon on him, regardless of knowing it was useless against the other demon, he watched as Tsuna tilted his head curiously and eye his bed before jumping into it, lying next to him. "What the hell are you doing?" the hunter resisted every urge to fire a bullet, much less shove the demon off. His eyes watched as the brunet snuggled closer into the blankets as if nothing was wrong.

"These are warm," Tsuna curled up underneath the blankets. "Much more comfortable than that couch of yours. And anyway, you're about to get up so I might as well take this bed."

"That's my bed, not yours."

"So? What are you so uptight for? I'm not going to do anything to it. I'll just keep it warm for you." Tsuna huffed, cuddling further into the blankets as if it was the best thing in the world. His head was rest against the pillow and eyes completely closed. Reborn contemplated whether or not he should fight for it, but eventually decided it wasn't worth the time, as long as his bed remained the same as it was before. Right now, he needed a really good shower. He could feel the dried blood cracking over his skin and in all honestly, he smelled terribly.

'Ugh…better clean myself up before doing anything else. Still need to call headquarters to let them know the mission has been completed,' Reborn started counting the amount of things he needed to do, but first things first: he needed a shower. As he entered the bathroom, he closed and locked the door and began peeling away his clothes, the cold air sending goosebumps down his skin. Once he turned the shower on, his dark eyes caught sight of something in the mirror, something that wasn't there on him before. 'What the?'

There on his upper left chest, just below the scapula, was a circular marking that was black in color with odd symbols written all around. It was in some demonic language, but in the center was an emblem with what looked like an angel wing and demonic wing on each side of it. Reborn raised an eyebrow at it, not recognizing the symbol as any contract he had ever seen. There were books on what type of demons gave what symbol, but this wasn't in any of them. 'Well, I've never heard of any hunter making a contract with an incubus before though. They aren't common demons that get in hunters' ways. Whatever, at least it's out of view.'

Noticing that there was now steam coming out from behind the curtain, he ran a hand through his spiky black hair and got into the shower, enjoying the warmth that hit his cold skin. It was a great wake-up call and what he wanted next was a wonderful cup of espresso, then everything would be perfect. He went through his regularly routine shower and made sure to scrub himself down extra hard for any remaining blood before deeming himself spotless. Stepping out, he wrapped a towel around his waist, able to feel the little droplets of water falling down his skin and hair, and opened the door to peek into the bedroom. Tsuna was still on his bed, as if sleeping, but Reborn could see snakelike movements under those covers, the tail shifting about.

'I wonder if Tsuna has the same symbol on him…' the hunter thought to himself as he got closer, peering down at the peaceful expression the demon held. The horns and wings were gone, giving Reborn once more the perception of a normal person. Carefully, he reached over and pulled the covers down, only pausing when he felt the body underneath shift. A honey-colored eye peeked open, staring at him in curiosity, and as if sensing what Reborn had planned to do, before closing it and going back to cuddling his head into the pillow. Taking that as allowance, Reborn pulled up the tank top to the chest and just as he expected, the same exact marking was there. 'So we really are in a contract. Guess my future days are going to be a whole lot more interesting.'

Sighing to himself, he pulled away, tugging the shirt back down and headed towards the closet to change. Droplets of water dripped down his skin and his hair had been flattened along with his two curls that normally bounced around whenever he walked. Tsuna, on the other hand, remained where he was at, yanking the covers back up to cover himself, and took a little peek at the retreating figure of Reborn, smiling softly to himself.

The hunter hadn't noticed that the protection seals he had around the room were still completely intact.


	4. Mission 2: Part 1

"Yes, it's been completed. It was defeated this morning at three. Please transfer the money to the usual place." Reborn reported to the other person on the phone, staring down at his books that were opened on the table within his dark room. The door was closed and only a single light was at the table was on, leaving him alone with his shadow dancing behind at his movements. His fedora is next to the books, lying innocently, and the creepiness of the words and the pictures were more obvious in the darkness.

It was opened up to the listing of multiple demons and the one that was closest to him had an image of a Dibbuk, a demon that caused mental illnesses, changes, and was known for making people go insane. The picture itself was stretchy, obviously not well described, but at least it had its weaknesses and how to defeat it as well as strategies. Reborn was not weak, he knew plenty of demons and has met and killed over one hundred and fifty in variety, he knew everything about them, but that number was so small if he took into consideration about Tsuna and his words of different classes of demons. There were almost no records of a Slicer, the demon he had just fought earlier this morning.

Reborn listened to the person on the other side rant about something, droning it out as he flipped the page to an incubus. He silently cursed, _nothing_. At least, nothing he already knew. The description lay out before him was nothing alike to Tsuna, it was as if he was completely unique and unidentifiable. 'Damn.'

Tsuna, from where he remembered leaving him, was still snoozing happily in his bed, remaining curled up like a cat and had apparently claimed his pillow. Reborn closed his eyes and nodded his head as he listened to the other person over the phone once more. "So I'll be getting my new orders through the fax? Alright then, thanks. Any guesses on this upcoming demon? No? Then I'll just have to find out. Well, I'll be going."

He pulled the little device away and pressed the end button, sighing happily at finally being free from the idiot on the other side. Reborn would and will always hate talking to the person that handed out the missions. Leaning back against his chair, he closed his eyes for a moment and ran a hand through his hair, before pulling out the biggest of his drawers in the table. Inside was a small fax machine and he listened as it went off, printing out the new papers with his new mission. About five sheets came through and he picked them up, staring at his new work.

"Is that your new assignment?"

Reborn almost jumped, snapping his head around to peer at his demonic companion. 'When did he…' he was certain he hadn't heard the door open and if it did, light from the outside would come blindingly in. It wasn't possible unless the brunet had the ability to slip through shadows. His dark eyes watched as the demon came closer and jump onto the desk, his tail lying lifelessly on the top, the wings and horns gone. "Yeah, I was about to look over it."

"Oh? Hope it's something interesting," Tsuna smiled, eyeing those said papers curiously, before turning back to the hunter. "So…why didn't you tell the person over the phone that you have contracted a demon? Surely that would be important to tell."

"They don't need to know or else they'll be harassing me every few hours," Reborn sneered and rotated around, picking up the papers to read. That was until he realized something. He turned back, examining over the brunet carefully. "You…changed your clothes?"

"Hmm?" Tsuna tilted his head before looking down. "Ah, yes, I did. I decided that it might be better if I did. I'll blend in with you humans a little bit better."

Reborn examined the new style, it was less revealing than the previous clothes, more skin covered. Starting at the top, he examined the sleeveless jacket, a zipper going down the middle, and the end of it just went above the bellybutton, an orange band running along it at the bottom as if holding it still. A buckle was attached to the band, silver in color, but there was no belt. From there, the shorts with a same colored band on top, having a buckle as well, went just a few inches below the crotch, extremely short in nature. The plain black boots were the same, going up just below the knee, but an orange thin sock went a little bit further and stopped at the top of the knee. As Reborn moved his eyes back up, he caught sight of the black arm wrappers that drifted down to the middle of the fingers, covering up a good portion of the skin. "It's a…improvement, but still looks odd comparing to everyone else. But it should be fine. Demon hunting has drawn in many different types of weirdoes."

"Sorry, I do not know what human's current culture is. I am more familiar with demons and human's past."

"It's fine," Reborn went back to reading his papers, looking over them and the details before muttering to himself. "Hmm, this location is about an hour away. Not bad." Apparently, it was in an abandoned school that had been closed up for years and eventually got inhabited by a demon who would drag its victims inside to eat. A previous hunter had accidently stumbled upon it and managed to fight it off to get away. Luckily, this one had been smart enough to get out when he knew he was overwhelmed and call for help. "Looks like it's a demon with a large body that had multiple veins popping out of it and has many large red eyes."

The hunter rotated to Tsuna, who was standing nearby, peeping over his shoulder. He could smell a soft alluring scent on the demon, those soft brown locks tickling his cheeks, and he knew that smell. It was familiar…strawberries. Yes, it was strawberries. The hunter peered up curiously, looking into those honey-colored eyes that were staring directly into the papers, and for a moment, his mind zoned out. His eyes drifted to those lips and watched as Tsuna leaned forward to grab the papers, gently prying them from his hands, before Reborn reached out to cup that porcelain face. Those large eyes soon turned to him inquisitively and then smirked as the warm hand slipped its way up to his left cheek.

"Oh? Is the human falling for my spell?" Tsuna chuckled, enjoying the heat of the touches and tilted his head towards it. He felt Reborn's hand slip into his soft hair and enjoyed the feeling it brought. "My, has the mighty fallen? It didn't take long, but you lasted a little bit longer than most humans. Regardless, we have work to do. We can play later." Lifting his right hand up, he snapped his fingers. Almost like a magic trick, those glazed eyes of Reborn's soon blinked and reopened looking clear and focused. The hunter narrowed his eyebrows for a moment before realization occurred to him, jumping up from his seat and stepping away from the demon.

"You!" Reborn sneered, cradling his head for a second before immediately reaching down for his gun. "What the hell did you do to me?"

"Nothing, you just fell for my charm spells that I tend to leak from my body. I didn't do anything and snapped you out of it so no harm done," Tsuna turned away and flopped back down onto the table, crossing his legs happily. "Remember, I'm an incubus, seducing people come naturally for me."

The hunter glared hatefully, not believing that he had fallen for such a terrible charm, and so easily. To be seduced like that, it was ridiculous. He was always the one that did everything, that made woman or man's legs shake, who made them scream in pleasure and stare at him with such desire. No, he couldn't fall to that level, he refused to. And by a mere demon as well, that was even more cursed.

Tsuna huffed, flopping over the desk. "Are you angry because of what I've said? Don't be. I'm a demon that's been doing this for all his life and I know my way around hardheaded ones like you. You may be experienced with humans, but you earn a zero with demons. And considering that I'm a demon that deals with humans like you all the time, you're at a disadvantage," the brunet chuckled, turning over onto his back to stare at the papers. "Anyway, do you want information on this demon or not? Or do you want to search it up yourself."

Reborn growled, words at the tip of his tongue, and stormed over, settling into his seat furiously. Damn demons, the lot of them. He just had to be contracted to one that was far too smart and had a tongue that was sharp and blunt. His dark eyes continued to glare, but regardless, answered the question, "No, you go ahead. I could search for the information on the demon myself, but that could take hours. I don't want to waste time for something like this, especially now that I have you here."

Tsuna nodded to that and closed his eyes for a moment before looking back up. "Alright, from the details and description that's been stated, it's a Pishachas."

"A Pishachas? Hmm…I remember reading about those before, it's a very troublesome demon to kill and not very liked among hunters. I don't have much information on them since many hunters have fallen victim to them."

"Yes, these demons like to eat human flesh and dwells in dark places. They only come out during the night and hide for the rest of the day. The only problem is that you have to find them during the night since that's when they are the easiest to spot which means going directly into their territory," Tsuna muttered, wiggling his nose as he remembered more details. "Ah, and they have a special ability. They can turn themselves invisible which makes them impossible for humans to detect, but of course, with me at your side, that shouldn't be a problem."

"You'll be able to detect them even when you can't see?"

"You can hide your form, but you can't hide your smell, movement, and heat waves one's body emits. Nonetheless, I'm powerful enough to see through that special ability," Tsuna rolled over so that he was now on his stomach, scattering more books around, shoving them aside. He flipped his tail gently, staring at the other details, but found them all useless since it was just a report about the other hunter going on how he got there and out with his life. He doubted that half of it was even true. How ludicrous, human's stupidity was showing so easily in a written form. "You can bring your normal equipment, but make sure to bring a flashlight. I doubt the moon will be out tonight so you'll need the extra light to see."

"And you?"

"I'm a demon, night is the best time to be out," Tsuna smiled, rolling off the table and landed on his feet properly. He started making his way out the room before turning around one more time. "Oh, and make sure that you carry fire-based weapons. You'll need them." With that he vanished into the darkness, never once opening the door and without a trace of ever being there. Reborn huffed and stood up from his spot, heading out into the hallway after picking up his fedora. The change of light was almost blinding for a moment before he adjusted, slipping out towards one of the weapon rooms, taking out what he needed and spread it out carefully to make sure that there was nothing had been missed. He couldn't afford any screw-ups.

As he finished his preparation, he glanced out his window where the blinds were at and realized something really important. What happened to the demon that had been trailing him? He wanted to know, it was important information towards his life after all. As he stepped out and went towards the living room where he could hear the TV on, he peered over the couch where Tsuna was at. "Hey, what happened to that demon outside?"

"Ah, that one. It ran away," Tsuna spoke as if stating the obvious, never once pulling his eyes away from the screen. "It most likely realized that there was someone more powerful than it targeting the same being and pulled back."

"Wouldn't killing it have been better?"

"Nah, let it live. It's not really a demon that causes trouble. It's just a minor Troian, they are demons that are better left for surveillance than anything else. They're weak and don't really feed on anything but animals. A normal human can kill them with ease if they don't freeze up. And I also know the demon that's controlling it so there's no trouble," Tsuna leaned over so that he was on his side, watching the TV with interest. Some discovery show was on, two men were trying to capture one of the most dangerous snakes, trying to avoid the strikes that were filled with poison. "I bet it went back to Hell if anything. There's no concerns needed. If it had decided to attack you, I would have protected you. Perhaps next time you'll actually be able to sleep instead of jumping awake every time you hear a sound."

"You really are beginning to strain my nerves. Perhaps I should shoot you a couple of times to get you to shut up." Reborn lifted off his fedora, placing it on top of the counter and ran a hand through his hair again. Tsuna was starting to grate on him. Shaking his head, he pushed away those thoughts, having better things he could do.

Regardless, he had a bad feeling about today and more so about today's mission. And for some odd reason, it wasn't about the demon he was about to face or the one next to him. There was something more. Turning around he went back to his bedroom, entering it without a second thought, and settled down on the mattress, feeling it sink in at his weight. Tsuna's scent was still lingering in the sheets, mixed with his own, and he didn't mind since it smelled so nice despite the hatred he bared towards the demon. If it had been otherwise, he would have just burned the thing to get of it.

Leaning over to a nightstand, he pulled out a drawer and peer inside at the contents. In the center, sitting all by itself, was a little yellow pacifier and he reached in to pick it up, placing it within his shirt to hide.

* * *

"So this is the place." Reborn muttered under his breath as he took a good look around the area in the setting sun. The place had been taped off and boarded up repeatedly and there were some places that looked like it was about to fall apart. The wood was dry and cracked and mold was growing in-between with vines crawling up. Tsuna stood to the side, appearing as a normal human, and hummed to himself as he examined the place more closely, checking the air. He wiggled his nose and narrowed his eyes instantaneously.

"Reborn," When the hunter turned to him, Tsuna resumed. "There's another human here."

"What? That's impossible, unless it's another victim," Reborn cursed, if it was another victim that had been pulled in to be killed, it would be best to move quickly to secure the person alive before they were eaten. He'd rather not lose a life just when he had arrived. He was about to dash off into the building, all equipped with his weapons and other needed items, when an arm snapped his own, keeping him from going any further. The hunter glared, trying to yank his arm away, but Tsuna's demonic strength wouldn't allow him to budge. "What the hell are you doing? Let go."

"Wait, I'm still checking on something. The movement of the human is too precise, too detailed, and looks routine. That's no victim. It must be another hunter since I can also sense a holy item on the human and it looks like they're trying to use it to ward off the demon's senses within," Tsuna huffed, eyes still narrowed in concentration. "I can sense the demon, it's at the basement of this place in what appears to be the heating room. There's a once-warm signature down there so it must have just feed an hour ago."

"Damnit." Reborn turned away, not liking the news that they had missed someone, but at the same time, he couldn't help but be thankful for the information. This was stuff he would probably never learn until he got inside and wandered about, much less know about the other hunter present unless he spotted signs of activity. Also, during the hunt and trying to get familiar with the setting, it was simple to be ambushed by demons and even fall into a trap. It was a risky business, demon hunting, but it was rewarding. Having Tsuna with him was…as much as he hated to admit it, a blessing. Tsuna's detecting abilities were powerful and tremendously useful on the battlefield and his fighting capability, though Reborn hadn't seen much, was topnotch.

Tsuna tugged the hunter closer and wrapped his arm around Reborn's, burying his face into the sleeve comfortably. The human tensed at the closeness and stared down curiously, questions burning in his eyes. He was about to ask something when the brunet replied, "There's someone watching us, another human. I'm in my human-like form so I should blend in, however, I don't like the stare. It's best if we move quickly and finish this job."

Reborn simply nodded, both of them heading towards the school building while leaving the car behind. He peered around the place, looking at the crumpled trees and dead grass. Everything was unkempt and left to rot. The walls that surrounded the school was falling apart, the cement cracked and broken, but regardless, it still served as a perimeter for the place. He did try to search for the human Tsuna had spoken of, but found no trace, the person must be far enough that he couldn't sense him or was good at hiding. Keeping close to the demon, they entered the building, listening to the creaking of the door and closed it right behind.

Immediately, the hunter pulled out his gun, going on the defense, ready for anything that came his way. Tsuna unattached himself, glancing around the open area that looked like it had once been a cafeteria, and examined everything that was in sight. Broken tables lay all around and the seats had been scattered on the ground, broken and forgotten. Banners that were once used in the school were still up, but they were covered in so much dust that they were unreadable. There were some stairs heading up to the second floor, parts of them having fallen apart.

"This place used to be in action about fifty years ago until there was an incident," Reborn explained, pushing a table aside to make a pathway. The metal screeched across the tiles and some of the wood splinted at the force. Tsuna stepped forward to help out, kicking things aside with ease due to his strength. "The incident was all over the news for weeks, but it was never resolved. One day, forty-six high-school students decided to kill themselves by hanging over anything they could get to. Some were even thrown over in this very cafeteria, hanging on the banners or over the stairs. It was terrible, no one got out of that completely normal."

"I see." Tsuna muttered, not sure on what else to say to that. It wasn't as if he could do anything about it and continued to work with Reborn, pushing the items aside until they finally got through the cafeteria. He kept an eye on the two presences in the place, the wandering human was still going around, and the demon that wasn't aware that there were people within its domain just yet. Tsuna guessed that the holy item the hunter was using was protecting him from being detected by low-class demons, he, on the other hand, simply cast a barrier over his human.

"No one knew what happened nor found out about the truth. These kids were just plain normal, good and evil, and very mixed. There was no connection on what happened. Of course, the populace didn't know, but we demon hunters did. There was only one connection and that was to the supernatural, and more specifically, to a demon. Only something like that could do-"

"You're wrong," Tsuna interrupted, glancing around as they made their way towards the classrooms where the entrance to the basement was in the center. Reborn rotated towards him in surprise, eyes slightly wide. "A demon didn't do that." the hunter looked like he was about to say something, to argue with the other, because he knew about the truth, there was only one truth. "I know because for the past one hundred years, only three demons have stepped in this school and that is myself, the Pishachas, and an Erinyes. However, an Erinyes does not have the ability to do such things. They are female demons of vengeance and generally summoned by a woman to take revenge, but that was over eighty-years ago and will only target the tormentor."

"Then…what could it be?"

"This was a human's work, I'm afraid," the brunet sighed, peering into one of the classrooms for a moment. In his mind, he could still hear the children chattering in the rooms, it was a memory the place had that had never been forgotten. "But the human was dead of course, but was not a demon. He had become a spirit that wanted revenge on the school that had misjudged him terribly and eventually took drastic methods." Tsuna closed his eyes to push the memories away and rubbed his head gently to suppress the incoming headache. "Damn, I've never liked looking into the past of things, always gives me a headache."

Reborn walked around so that he was in front of the brunet, leaning over slightly to get a better look at the demon. He could see the normally peach skin had turned slightly pale and frustration was evident in the expression.

Those honey-colored orbs peered up into the dark black ones and they weren't filled with the usual distrust and carefree attitude. "Reborn, please remember this phrase for the rest of your life. This is something that is true and will remain true forever: 'Not all demons are evil, not all angels are good, and humans are ever-changing'. You may not understand now, but you will one day," For a moment, the brunet smiled softly, something that wasn't desiring or cruel, just a soft kind smile. He reached up to pat the human on the cheek before closing his eyes, quickly shifting his attitude back to normal. "Now come. The other hunter seems to be coming our way. We'd best be moving if you want to kill the demon first and get your reward. After all, didn't you tell me the one that kills it first gets the money?"

"Ah." the hunter made a small sound, but followed along as the demon went ahead, looking distracted at his own thoughts. He sighed and quickened his pace, storing the information inside his mind, the words repeating within.


	5. Mission 2: Part 2

" _Ah." The hunter made a small sound, but followed along as the demon went ahead, looking distracted at his own thoughts. He sighed and quickened his pace, storing the information inside his mind, the words repeating within._

Reaching over, Reborn pulled the brunet closer to him and held on, hoping that Tsuna would at least have some common sense to keep an eye out for enemies, while in his present state. The demon blinked for a moment, eyes gazing into Reborn's before lightening up, tugging closer to the warmth of a human body and taking in the rich scent of cologne. Seeing the other cheering up at the small simple gesture, the two continued down the empty school hallway, slowly making their way to the center where the door to the basement was at.

"So…Reborn, why is there another hunter here? I thought they simply assigned a mission to each one." Tsuna asked, still keeping himself close by.

"It's not uncommon. I get paid for each mission completed and the harder the mission, the better the pay. So it's to be expected that there will be others trying to grab the higher up ones. Whoever kills the demon first gets the reward." Reborn huffed, grumbling that he had never once allowed anyone to beat him and that he wasn't going to start now. He had a record to keep.

Suddenly, the demon smirked. "If you like…I could create some distractions for the other hunter. Shouldn't be hard, a chair moving here and there or have a presence of a ghost walking around."

"Tsuna, I'm going to play fair."

"Do you think the other hunter will once he realizes there's someone else trying to get the same bounty?"

Reborn grinded his teeth and glared. He thought about it for a moment before grumbling. "Fine, do it."

A wicked smirk grew on those red lips and the hunter watched as Tsuna made a quick wave of his hand as if saying done. Reborn didn't say anything else and continued down the hallway. He mentally cursed, that strawberry scent was still going strong and it was wonderfully intoxicating. 'Damnit, I'm not going to allow myself to be drifted to the side by a stupid charm.'

"Ah, Reborn," the soft voice snapped the hunter out of his daze and the taller man glanced down. "You know fire magic, right? I remember you saying it before."

"Yes, you're correct."

"That's the Pishachas' main weakness. Use it whenever possible. I don't know how much I'll be able to help you without immediately letting the other hunter know there's another demon around," Tsuna grumbled, not liking the fact that he was going to have to hold back dearly. Too much release of power could alert anyone of his presence. "I can still cast simple magic to help out from the sides."

Reborn smirked, able to tell that the demon hated his current constricted position. "That's fine. I bought a special weapon just in case since you took the decency to tell me in advance." he cocked his gun and chuckled, wondering how his special bullets would affect the demon. It was rare that he was able to use these since there was no telling what a demon's weakness was until he got there due to the little information he received or have done so much research on his target and he'd rather not risk using something that could instead heal the enemy or be useless.

As they got to the door, Tsuna was the first one to open it, being the immortal of the group and the one that could sense the demon's movement. Glancing back at Reborn with a nod, he went ahead with the other hunter right behind, watching their steps as they went down the moldy cement. The door closed gently behind and everything was quiet. There was a light hum in the room and the air was tense and warm. That was until Reborn almost gagged at the stench. Rotting, something was rotting. It burned his lungs and it hurt to breathe.

Reborn could only guess what it belonged to and as they got further down the stairs, he was met with a sight that only made things worse. Body parts of victims were lying around, flies decorating the corpses, and the blood was all over. Tsuna twitched his nose and peered up at the hunter for a moment before reaching into his shorts to pull out a piece of cloth. Without saying anything, he placed it over Reborn's mouth and nose, and watched as the eyes stared at him in question before understanding what the demon was trying to do. Nodding as thanks, he wrapped the cloth around his face and continued on, able to breathe just slightly better comparing to before.

They stepped over the body parts, trying to prevent nudging anything they didn't want to, and Reborn peered around the large basement, finding it as big as the cafeteria, but with more pillars to hide behind. Tsuna tugged gently on the hunter's right sleeve, drawing his attention and pointed off towards the back, tempted to bring out his wings to fly over the mess. His boots were beginning to get dirty and he twitched at the thought of having to do some cleaning. A shower after this was definitely needed.

Reborn almost growled when he saw the corpse of a young girl, probably one in the missing pages, and turned away, hating the way the eyes stared at him. Those blank orbs were glazed over, but were wide in fear and desperation. He could just imagine the terror she went through.

Tsuna didn't flinch at anything, this was common in Hell, but this was light comparing to what he had seen. His world was much worse at times, especially when it came to the terrible crimes humans had done when they were alive. Shaking his head, he continued off, ignoring the dripping off the ceiling, blood raining down from the previous splatter. As they neared the back, Tsuna narrowed his eyes, the fading lighting from the outside world now gone and there was nothing more than pitch black darkness. Reborn was tempted to curse, he couldn't see at all, but an arm wrapped around his own kept him from doing something stupid like pulling out a flashlight. He could very well alert the demon of their presence.

"I'll be right next to you, Reborn. I won't let you wander this darkness on your own," Tsuna offered comforting words in a whisper, shifting closer to the hunter in an effort to let the other know he was still there. "We're getting close so be careful."

"Right." Reborn felt himself getting pulled along, everything still black. Despite the lack of light, he could see movement from beside him and make out the outline of Tsuna. Though he hated demons, he couldn't deny that he didn't mind this one and found him useful.

Suddenly, Tsuna yanked him closer. "Reborn, five feet before us, it's asleep."

The hunter narrowed his eyes in hopes of seeing something, but nothing, there was absolutely nothing. But then Tsuna moved, reaching into the human's pocket to pull out the said flashlight, flicking it on with the light shining above at the ceiling. Despite it not being as effective, it brought some luminance to the field. Reborn could now see the demon he had been hunting and as the description stated, it was the same. He could see the slits where the eyes were meant to be and the body was covered in fresh blood, a body at the demon's feet.

"I thought demons don't sleep."

"It's not required, but is welcomed. It's the fastest way to recover one's energy," Tsuna noted, pulling away from the hunter and stepping to the corner. As he did that, he froze, snapping his head up, eyes wide. "That…idiot." Though it was a whisper, Reborn could sense the sudden rage in the tone. Immediately, he went back to Reborn's side and turned off the light, dragging the hunter behind a pillar. These were questioning movements, but the hunter remained quiet, keeping his back against the hard concrete. Then there was a small rumble and a squishing flop.

Reborn's eyes widened as realization came to him and cursed. Tsuna kept a tight hold on his body, casting a quick spell to keep them hidden from the other demon as it woke up and began to move. Its tiny feet shuffled over the body parts, making grumbling sounds. Its breath was terrible as it moved past the duo, heading towards the stairs. Luckily, for Reborn that meant more light to work with but it made his job so much harder.

"Tsuna…"

"Ah, I know. The other hunter did something completely stupid and alerted our target of his presence," Tsuna whispered directly into the other's ear, well aware of the shivers that ran down Reborn's spine. He smirked at the sensation he could bring to the human, but knew he had to push his desire back once more. Now was not the time. "Luckily, it hasn't realized that we're here as well. We'll need to attack quickly before it heads upstairs."

"Obviously." As they followed into a more lighted area, Reborn immediately fired. The shot rang through the atmosphere and then there was a screech. Those multiple eyes turned around to stare at him hatefully, and a large mouth filled with razor sharp teeth opened up, roaring.

"Impossible! A human!" the Pishachas growled, dashing forward to Reborn's spot. The hunter simply dodged to the side, letting the demon slam into one of the support beams, the concrete crumbling on top of the demon. Tsuna was off to the side and cast a quick fire spell, engulfing the demon under the debris. Another screech came and it jumped out, rolling over the ground to get rid of the flames before charging forward once more. "Fire! Fire!"

Reborn once more jumped to the side, changed his ammo midair and targeted the demon once more, firing off one of his special bullets right into one of the eyes. As it hit the target, the bullet suddenly exploded, taking out a large chunk and splattering demon parts over the ground. Fire from the explosion continued to burn the remaining flesh and Reborn quickly fired off a couple more rounds, still flying, aiming for all the eyes and eventually at the mouth. As the flesh began to explode and burn, the demon stopped completely, collapsing to the ground immediately. The human relaxed for a moment, stepping forward to make sure the demon was dead. Tsuna chuckled, the hunter was smart and quick-thinking. To effectively use his special items in combat, that was probably what made this hunter so good at his work.

"It's dead, Reborn. Look, its body is starting to dissolve," Tsuna pointed out, getting near to the human and watched as his fellow kind became to dissipate into the air. "Good job. You killed it on your own."

"I've been able to handle myself this long, however, having you here makes things easier. I cannot deny that your help is greatly appreciated." Reborn reasoned but held back at making anymore comments. As soon as he stated that, he felt Tsuna wrap an arm around his body and cuddle into him.

"That's very kind of you. Maybe there's a chance that you might warm up to me," Tsuna chuckled happily, steering the hunter away from the mess and towards the stairs. "Besides, at least you weren't as stupid as the idiotic hunter above. Asshole destroyed one of the classrooms in hopes of drawing the demon out. Yeah, good job, idiot, almost got us in trouble instead."

Reborn chuckled though there was some tightness in it. When he found the idiot, he was definitely going give him a piece of his mind. As they exited the basement, Tsuna turned towards the right where they could a person running up to them eagerly. Reborn only took one look to know who it is and sneered, yanking himself away from his partner.

"You damn idiot!" As the person came close, Reborn immediately kicked him across the floor, sending the other hunter flying. Tsuna blinked at the violence and watched as the human effectively beat the other up, repeatedly stomping on the stomach and kicking at the side. "Do you know that your stupid action endangered us?"

Tsuna observed the one-sided fight as large amounts of dust scattered around. He looked at the beaten human, taking in the black hair and the bandage across the bridge of the nose. The holy item, a cross, was flung across the floor towards him and Tsuna reached down to pick it up. Though he didn't like the feeling it gave him, it didn't bother him at all, and waited for the fight to stop.

"H-hold on! R-Reborn, is that you to the extreme?" a rough voice called out, arms out in front of him for protection against Reborn's abuse. Finally when the other had had enough, Reborn pulled away, sauntering over to Tsuna's side. The fallen hunter slowly got up, wobbly from the pain and bruises and peered at the other in fear. "S-sorry about that, didn't know that you were here. Did anything happen to the extreme?"

"Of course, we were trying to sneak up on the demon for a surprise attack when you gave yourself away! How much of a fool can you be, Knuckle? If it wasn't for Tsuna's quick thinking and realization of what happened, I could've been in some serious deep shit!" Reborn stepped forward one more time to give another kick, this time it hit the ribs, but the other hunter held out, only wincing in pain. Knuckle turned to the demon curiously, looking over him, before tilting his head. To him, Tsuna looked like nothing more than a twenty-year old with perfect skin and though the eyes were far from innocent, to him, it was. This was no place for such a person, especially one that looked so weak and defenseless. Tsuna glanced to Reborn for a moment with an eyebrow raised and the other man looked at him the same way.

Knuckle nodded to himself and then glared at the older demon hunter. "Reborn, how you bring such a person on an extreme mission?"

"What? Did my words go in one ear and out the other?" Reborn sneered, hating whenever he had to deal with this man. He just never listened!

"But he's so young-" Tsuna snorted at that. "He could easily be killed by an extreme demon when you're not looking." There was another snort this time by the combination of Reborn and Tsuna.

"Ugh, this idiot isn't listening," Reborn flicked his fedora upward in frustration, growling to himself and half tempted to get out of this place as soon as possible. Idiotic people. Then he noticed something _very_ odd…wasn't Tsuna a demon? And he's holding a cross… "Tsuna, you're not…burning?" he eyed the hand carefully, but as Tsuna lifted up the holy item with ease, skin intact and unharmed.

"Of course. This item is preposterously weak though. It's not even all that holy." Tsuna huffed, handing the item over and remained back before looking somewhere else. He examined the other hunter before him, looking over the priest-like robes, and saw a bible in one arm. Then when he drifted to the right hand, he stopped, examining the little jewelry that was there.

The priest noticed it and followed the gaze to a ring on his fingers. "Ah, are you looking at this to the extreme?" the brunet nodded, knowing that Reborn's eyes were on him intently. "This is the Vongola sun ring! Amazing right?"

"Ah, yes. I've heard of it. I can't believe it's managed to survive for this long though." the demon mumbled the last part, the words only being heard by his partner, and turned away for a moment to sigh. Tsuna scratched the back of his head and turned to the side.

"Tsuna?" Reborn questioned, noticing a distant look in the brunet's eyes. The demon turned to him, shaking his head, letting the hunter know that it was best not to question it right now. "Anyway, I take it that there was another hunter outside, correct?"

"Ah, Alaude. He extremely didn't want to come in with me! He said that he would wait until I'm dead first." Knuckle boomed, making the other two take a step back in order to hear better.

"Of course, he would. Come, let's get out of here," Reborn rotated around, heading towards the exit with Tsuna right behind. Knuckle yelled out a couple more things, but was mostly ignored along the walk, the previous silence of the school no longer there. As they stepped out of the place, the sun just barely peeking out from behind the trees, they were met with another man, platinum blond in hair color and cold, sharp blue eyes. Reborn tilted his fedora to the side as a greeting and walked past the man while Tsuna examined him before noticing the same ring on the person's finger, this time cloud. "Alaude."

"Reborn," the man stated before turning his gaze towards the loud idiot behind. "Knuckle, let's go. I have better things to do." For a moment, he looked at Tsuna curiously before turning away as if he didn't want to bother. The same perception Knuckle had on the demon was the same in thoughts.

"Ah, that's right, before I forget to the extreme!" Knuckled yelled as he ran to catch up with everyone, his booming voice annoying everybody in the area. Just as that happened, Reborn was pulling out his phone to report his success and paused for that moment to listen. "There's going to be an extreme meeting at the Vongola main base in three days so it's best if you come. The boss stated that it's important if everyone does so, something about an attack!"

Reborn narrowed his eyes at that before nodding his head, still walking off.

"Oh! And make sure to bring your little friend, too!" the loudmouth yelled out, waving the two, not aware of the way Reborn seemed to tense and sneered hatefully. "I'll let Giotto know that you're coming with a guest. You must be in an extremely good mood to raise a hunter apprentice! Good for you, Reborn! But you should have chosen one that wasn't so weak and fragile looking. That's quite terrible of you to the extreme!"

The black-haired man peered down at the little demon with an eyebrow raise and sighed. "Fucking bastard."

Tsuna didn't say anything and simply followed along as Reborn continued to curse various words in different languages. He found this tremendously funny.

"I'm helping a demon get inside the biggest demon hunting base. You better not do anything stupid."

"Not interested."

Reborn could tell the other meant it as they stepped back into the car, the human dialing the number to state that the mission had been completed. He couldn't get another one in such a short time, well, it was a decent break before the meeting. As he got over that, he peered towards Tsuna curiously, still seeing that distant expression. 'He's been looking like that since he saw the Vongola ring…odd…'

"Hey, Reborn, the group of demon hunters you're in is called Vongola, right?" Tsuna suddenly asked as the other just started the car, the engine roaring alive. The sun had just disappeared, letting the darkness of the night settled in, the light of the dashboard giving them some luminosity.

"Yeah, I'm known as their best hunter, the number one. I'm also connected to the Arcobaleno, who are known to take a variety of jobs besides just demon hunting."

"Arcobaleno…" the brunet whispered before snapping his head over. "That means you have a pacifier, yes? What color? And what about the Mare rings?"

Reborn blinked at the sudden outburst, the demon's attention quickly shifting immediately and was focusing on nothing else but him. The gaze made him uncomfortable, but he didn't care show it. "Yeah, I hold one, and it's sun so yellow. And Mare rings? Never heard of them, what are they?"

Tsuna seemed to narrow his eyes at that, looking over Reborn's body carefully, before reaching forward. The hunter almost swerved the car as he felt those hands on his chest, patting him down carefully. Cursing and taking one hand off the wheel, he tried to stop those said fingers from going somewhere they were supposed to. However, he was fighting a losing battle.

Tsuna leaned further over, slipping his fingers inside of the human's button-up shirt, still searching for what he wanted. For a second, Reborn almost moaned as those nails scratched across his skin and that intoxicating scent flooded his mind once more, that was until Tsuna grabbed the item. The demon pulled out the little pacifier in victory, not caring at the way he left the other.

He held the little item in his fingers, examining it carefully, before looking back at the hunter. "Sun, huh? Not much of one, now are you?"

"Tsuna…" There was anger in Reborn's tone of voice, angry that his important item had been taken away, angry that he had allowed someone to beat him, angry that the said person was making fun of him, and definitely angry that he had been turned on by those touches. He was tempted to smack his head against the steering wheel and scream out in frustration, but resisted only to save face. He was starting to get annoyed with Tsuna, the way the demon sometimes came onto him and then back away at the last moment. Of course, he didn't want to sleep with the demon, that was the worst thing a hunter could do, but god damnit, if he was going to be this sexually frustrated, he didn't give a shit.

He could only hope that he could hold out until he got back to his house and if possible even longer.


	6. Intermediate 1

The first thing that Reborn did when he got home was to get something to eat. He was starving and it was already so late in the night, an hour before the next day. He tossed his keys onto the counter and went towards his kitchen, opening the refrigerator door to see if there was anything he could use to cook with. Eggs came immediately to mind and he picked those up along with some other items to make an omelet, it was dinner, but whatever, something was better than nothing. As he did that, Tsuna stretched his limbs, letting his extra appendages out into the open, flapping his wings freely.

"Ah, much better," the demon muttered to himself, running a hand through his locks, before looking down at his boots. He cursed, they were still dirty with blood and took them off, leaving them at the front of the house, placing a reminder on himself to get those cleaned later. His orange thin socks still clung to his legs and he stepped closer to Reborn, peering into the kitchen. "Hey, Reborn, I'm going to use your shower to clean up. I have blood on me that I'd like to get rid of."

"Go ahead." Reborn didn't spare a glance at the demon, working on his dinner at the stove. His fedora was on the counter and his jacket was hanging off one of the chairs.

Tsuna tilted his head before striding towards Reborn's room, bypassing the protection seals that were inside with ease, and entered the bathroom. It was a neat, medium-sized place, something to be expected with the main bedroom - having a separate bathtub and shower for usage. The counter of the sink had Reborn's daily items from a toothbrush to a shaver. Turning his attention away, he went towards the shower to turn it on, listening as the water came sprouting out. It was cold at the moment so he went away, stripping away his clothes and tossing them to the ground without care. He snapped his fingers and watched as the spots on the garbs vanished, leaving it as clean as it had been before the mission had happened. "There, all clean."

Afterwards, he examined himself through the mirror, able to spot his tattoo through the reflection and fingered it for a moment before shaking his head. Thoughts ran through his head about today but refused to let any of them surface to the top of his mind. Noticing that there was steam coming out from the top of the shower and the tiles and mirror were beginning to fog up, he turned around to enter the water. Opening the glass door, he stepped in, feeling a gust of warm air hit him on the face, sending goose bumps down his skin. If there was one thing Tsuna enjoyed quite a bit, it was the feeling of water running over his body, the warmth of it against his skin, washing away any grime and dirt that had been collected over the day. His tail flicked once, hanging limply against him and he ran a hand though his drenched hair, tucking it back. His wings had been folded up neatly against his back and he turned around to let the water get to those, using Reborn's soap to clean them more effectively.

Once he finished scrubbing himself off, he settled to the bottom of the floor in the shower after repositioning the spray and leaned back against the wall, simply letting the water hit him. It felt like there was rain coming down from above and it was always a wonderful sensation, many times allowing him time to think to himself without the rest of the world egging at him.

A knock on the glass door alerted him of Reborn's presence and he peered up through his flattened bangs to stare into those dark eyes. Tilting his head, he gave the unspoken question of _what_ , a little disappointed that his time alone had already been interrupted.

"I have a question for you." Reborn stated, kneeling down so he get a better look at the brunet behind the glass.

The demon raised an eyebrow at that, moving a hand up to wipe the water and fog off. "Are you really going to ask me here of all times?"

"Yes."

Tsuna simply sighed, lifting his tail up to wipe the glass again. "Alright, what do you want to know?"

"You were looking at the Vongola rings oddly, why?"

"Oh, those," the brunet leaned further back against the wall, closing his eyes for a moment before reopening them. He used his foot to push open the glass door, swinging it open so that the human could hear better. The shower had the tendency to drown out words and he was in no mood to repeat anything, though he didn't like that cool air that came rushing in and the heat was escaping. A conversation like this was best to be understood clearly. "You know that I've been alive for a long time or at least expected it, right?" Reborn nodded his head, moving toward the opening of the door and was able to see the demon much clearer than through a foggy calcium-covered glass. He leaned against the wall, facing inside the shower, and made sure his eyes stayed above the shoulder line, never letting them drift downward to the obvious naked attire below. Reborn did note that the brunet had some killer legs though. "Well, I was alive long before those rings were made so I still remember the process of them doing so. Tell me, what do you currently know about them?"

Reborn sighed, reaching up to twirl one of his curls, pulling it down only to have it spring back up. "That they were handed to the humans to help fight against the demons that raided the mortal realm. It's said that they used an old style of flames that no longer exist to this day and was brought down from the heavens by the angels." the hunter watched as the demon stared in disbelief, raising a curious eyebrow at the expression.

"Angels?! What bullshit it that?" Tsuna looked offended for a moment, muttering curses under his breath. "What the hell are they telling you humans now? Well, considering it's been over two thousand years since their creation, I can see how you humans can be fooled by lies over time. It's in your nature." When he saw the confusion in those dark eyes, the brunet continued. "Look, those Vongola rings were created in the old flames of Hell, therefore, were created by demons, more particularly, the Tri-Ni-Sette, which is why I'm telling you not to mess with them. You piss them off, they can easily command the rings to stop working, leaving you without a major power against demons."

"Why?"

"As you may know, Hell is huge and the Tri-Ni-Sette can't control everything due to its size. So in order to keep the balance between Heaven, Hell, and the mortal realm, the humans needed to have something be able to defend themselves due to their weak nature, and that brought about the creation of the Vongola rings and while we're at it, the Arcobaleno pacifiers and Mare rings. They were given as gifts to the humans to use as long as they never turned against their creators that had made the items."

Reborn 'hummed' to himself, deep in thoughts as he processed the new information, reaching up to touch the sun pacifier inside his clothes. He never knew anything about that, all the books he had read, even a few forbidden ones, never mentioned anything Tsuna had just stated. It was disbelieving. Was he really going to believe it? Reborn clenched his fingers for a second before nodding to himself. Tsuna had no reason to lie, at least, not to him. Though, considering everything, it made more sense. He always knew something was off about the history of these items and how they were transferred. And when he had received the pacifier, it was like he had been called to it for a long time, as if it was his, and at the same time, he could feel an unknown power flowing through the item. But it was untapped, never being able to figure out how to use it, not even his other companions had been able to. "Then why can the main ring, the sky flame based one, only be used with certain people?"

"It runs on a bloodline. The first descendent of the sky ring for Vongola was half-human and half-demon, from what I've heard, it was a demon that rebelled against its own kind and fell in love with a human woman. It was slaughtered soon after, the woman as well. The child, who miraculously survived, contained the demon's abilities, a weaker version of course, but just the same and it happened that that demon could still use the sky flames. The Tri-Ni-Sette saw that chance and handed the rings over to that half-blood, following that bloodline only. The other rings can only be used by those that bear those other flames, weakened or not, it's not as specific as the sky ring. They simply strengthen the flames within to make them more useful against demons. It is not uncommon to find those that can use flames to have some demon blood flowing through them, even if it's just barely or a drop. Anyway, it's like fighting fire with fire, both sides can be destroyed by these flames. The Arcobaleno, on the other hand, are chosen by the strength of their minds and abilities and are granted special powers from the pacifiers. The Mare rings are supposed to give their bearer only one ability, except for the sky, which may have multiple. However, like you've given away, these rings are no longer in play in this world. There hasn't been anyone worthy of using them for hundreds of years."

"That would explain the rumor of the Vongola Decimo being part demon. I've never believed it, but considering what you've stated, it must be true. I've always thought something was funny about him."

Tsuna smirked and scooted closer to the door, his bangs being pushed back to prevent them from falling into his eyes. His tail was lying limply on the ground, letting the shower water run around it and his wings were beginning to get in his way, making them disappear so that he could feel the cold glass against his back. He noticed that Reborn turned his head slightly away due to Tsuna's naked nature. Giving a smirking leer, he lifted his hand up and flexed it as if saying 'Come in'. Reborn simply grumbled and glared, ignoring the unsettling stare the demon gave him.

As the hunter did that, he folded his arms, thinking for other questions he wanted answers to. There were plenty and he knew that Tsuna wouldn't answer all of them if he took too long. "What about the cross from today? You said that it wasn't all that holy. I thought that all items from the Church or created from the Church were, you know, _holy_."

"Ah, those items. Bah, weak little things. They may be effective against those low-class demons, but that thing is absolutely useless against something more powerful. And anyway, just because you chant some line from the bible, doesn't mean it's pure. Most pure holy stuff was destroyed by the humans a long time ago, not demons." Tsuna stretched and reached up to turn off the water, getting up from his spot. The cool air from outside was starting to make him shiver. Reborn got up as well to allow Tsuna to exit the shower, making his way towards the door and leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. His fedora was still off and even his shoes were gone, leaving only his socks remaining below.

As Tsuna placed a towel around his head to dry off his hair, Reborn couldn't help but let his eyes drift to the tail that was attached as if normal to the skin. Though the flesh was a peach-color, it seemed to fade away as it turned into that black pigment of the tail. The brunet chuckled, his sharp brown eyes peering over at the hunter through the mirror. "Like what you see?"

The human snorted and lifted his eyes back up. "No thanks." Before realizing, his eyes had drifted back down to the tail and Tsuna noticed quickly through the reflection, calculating the direction of the gaze. Shifting closer, he lifted up his tail for the hunter to grab, flicking it side to side teasingly. Taking that as acceptance, Reborn held the snake-like appendage in his fingers, feeling the leathery skin on his own, and rubbed it gently.

"Hey, don't pull my tail. Its feels like someone pulling one's hair, it's not a wonderful feeling."

"Oh?" Reborn yanked it slightly, watching the demon twitch at it. 'Hmmm, so he doesn't like this.' he let the leather feeling of the tail slide through his fingers before stopping at the tip where it held the normal pointy arrowhead end, tapping the sharp part. "This is the first time I've ever been this close to a demon that wasn't trying to kill me."

Tsuna didn't answer that, drying his skin off and kept the towel wrapped around his shoulders. He slipped his tail out of those fingers and turned to stare into those dark eyes curiously. Reborn simply returned the gaze, curious at what Tsuna was going to do next. It was awkward enough as it is since he was standing before a naked demon, trying not to let his eyes drift downward towards things he'd rather not see.

"Tsuna?"

"I haven't gotten my reward for the today's mission."

"Reward?" Reborn gave a question look, not sure what Tsuna meant. He was about to open his mouth to voice it, however, before he realized it, he had been yanked forward, his mouth crashing on the demon's and was able to feel and taste that rich smoothness of those lips all at once. He froze for a moment, his mind trying to catch up with the actions and quickly felt Tsuna move against him, a tongue probing his mouth. The hunter almost moaned at that even more so when the said tongue brushed up against his own, playfully tugging at it to get him moving. That irresistible strawberry aura was back and stronger than ever, his mind slowly drifting away.

Then a hand, fingers with sharp nails, raked down his back though his clothes, making his gasp pleasantly in the back of his throat, arcing himself towards it. Before long, he was attacking back with his own tongue, fighting against the demon who was quickly dominating the kiss. He could feel himself slowly being drained of energy, but it didn't matter, the taste of Tsuna was far too overwhelming, and he enjoyed those fingers as they continued to move down towards his thighs, making circular movements on the bony prominence. His own hand drifted towards those soft caramel-colored locks, gripping them tightly to deepen the kiss. He didn't understand why this was happening, much less register he was kissing a demon of all people, but it didn't matter. All he wanted was to simply kiss the other and ravish those tender lips. His other hand slipped down, drifting to one of the ass checks and made a squeeze.

Tsuna broke the kiss to smirk. "So the human does know how to play. Good." His lips went down Reborn's neck, leaving little bite marks along the way, not enough to break the skin. Slowly, he brought his hands around and unbuttoned Reborn's shirt, exposing the chest and delicious skin underneath. His fingers raked upward, leaving bright red lines in the process, and got another gasp from the hunter. He wandered how long it would take the human to realize what was going on, knowing Reborn's will, it shouldn't take too much longer.

Reborn grinded his teeth together, eyes hazy with pleasure, and tightened his grip on Tsuna's hair. He could feel those warm hands claw at his skin, making him hiss repeatedly each time it was done. So this was how it felt like to have an incubus play with him. Wait…incubus…'Shit!' Once he realized what was going on, he shoved the demon away from him, backing up against the wall of the bathroom, glaring hatefully. "You bastard! Get away from me!"

The demon didn't look offended and remained standing with a smirk. "Oh? I was wondering how long it would take you to realize what was going on. I was starting to count the time. But I got what I wanted, I'm satisfied for the time being."

Blinking in question, he wandered what the demon meant until he suddenly collapsed. His legs were shaking and he felt out of breath. 'What…?' He thought back to when he felt like he was being drained, his energy…

"What you're thinking is probably along those lines. The pleasure you feel, I can eat, but in turn, you'll feel weak. It's the same as the after effect of having an orgasm, it's a human's weakness time since they lose all the strength in their body," Tsuna smirked as he watched the realization slip into the human's eyes. He stepped closer, leaning down and pointed towards Reborn's crotch. "Of course, you're still turned on by this little foreplay."

"Son of a bitch!" The human searched around him and grabbed whatever he could to throw at the demon. It didn't matter what, towels, cleaning bottles, he just wanted the demon out of the bathroom. Tsuna chuckled in amusement, enjoying the hint of red on Reborn's face and rushed out the room after picking up his clothes. That left Reborn all alone in the bathroom, cursing him out loudly.

'Reborn is kinda fun to tease, ah, how I was in his position in my younger years,' Tsuna smiled to himself as he settled into the living room, getting himself dressed. 'I must have looked too cute, maybe that was why I was always harassed by other demons.'

* * *

"Damnit…" Reborn growled, looking down at his chest where he could feel a very noticeable weight on his body. His chest was bare, his clothes neatly placed on the nightstand all folded and ironed, leaving him with only a loose-fitting pants he generally wore to bed. Due to his type of work, he couldn't be running around naked as he dodged claws while trying to get his stuff together whenever there was a surprise attack in his house. Despite hoping that Tsuna would take care of that from now on, habits were hard to kill now after doing such things after years of problems. Still, how could he allow Tsuna to sneak up on him during the night and settled on him like a pillow was beyond him. He swore he hated that mischievous demon.

Grumbling to himself, he shifted to the side before entirely shoving the brunet onto the floor, hearing that small squeak in satisfaction. He almost laughed at the confused expression on the demon, knowing he had somehow managed to surprise him, and grinned.

"I'm not a pillow and stop sneaking into my bed. Sleep somewhere else." The hunter sneered, flipping the covers up and headed towards the bathroom to get himself ready for the day despite knowing he won't be going anywhere. He still had two more days before going to Vongola mansion.

He, of course, didn't glance back at the evil look the brunet was giving, obviously not too pleased at being awaken so rudely. A shiver ran down his spine, but Reborn ignored it.

* * *

Reborn was really starting to regret ever shoving the demon off his bed. He should have been smart and actually think through what would happen to him if he pissed off an overly powerful demon that could easily mess with both his mind and body. Oh, was his body feeling it.

Moaning softly as he felt a hand run down his thighs, he tried to brace himself against the stove, not daring to try anything less he actually burn himself over the fire that was still burning on top. Tsuna's body was pressed against his own pleasurably, hands touching places he had never allowed any woman to do so. The demon's fangs were in his neck, feeling out of control as pleasure assaulted his body over and over again, crying out softly when Tsuna sucked harder. He could barely resist, feeling himself drained of energy.

About halfway into the little pleasure trip, Tsuna suddenly stop, dropping him to the floor and walked away without a second thought, leaving the hunter in his pleasurable haze and a throbbing in his pants. The demon ignored the curses that were pointed his direction and awaited for the other to either take care of it himself or calm himself to let it go away before attacking once more.

Reborn took note that pissing off Tsuna was a bad idea after the sixth attempt, now settled on the couch, watching some news he could no longer hear. Well, _was_ watching. It was hard to when the brunet's hands were down his pants, grabbing hold of his crotch and rubbing so wonderfully. He couldn't help but note that Tsuna was far too skilled with this and knew exactly what he was doing and that wasn't the worst of it, it was how easily he moved Reborn's body into his control.

"D-damnit! I get it! Stop it already!" The hunter moaned in-between, feeling his legs shake as Tsuna grabbed hold of his member, pumping it slightly.

"Get what?" The innocent smile on the demon's lips would look convincing if it wasn't for the fact that his hands were rolling around inside Reborn's pants. The human's hands had been tied back by some unknown force, unable to resist like he wanted to. He had tried to look back to see what it holding him down but he saw nothing, just his hands together tied by an invisible rope that was pulling them back, preventing him from pushing himself forward. Tsuna gave another tight squeeze, watching as Reborn acted like pudding in his fingers, the glare in those dark eyes getting stronger.

"You're just pissed that I tossed you off my bed! I get it! Now stop! Let me go!" Before he could say anything else, he was shoved down the couch, now on his back, hands still somehow above his head, preventing him from moving the way he wanted to. He blinked in confusion, only he started panicking slightly as he felt his legs being spread apart, his pants luckily still on, with Tsuna settled between. At least the hands were no longer touching him, but he knew better than to think he was safe for now.

That look in Tsuna's eyes made him feel like a prey, something he wasn't used to at all. Never had he clearly been someone's target, he was the predator, the controller, and yet here he is, being ruled so easily, and with just a couple of touches. He had read that incubuses were tough creatures to fight against and were rarely reported to hunters and he was beginning to see why. Humans that had fallen victim to the amazing pleasure, probably didn't want it to stop, not when said pleasure was different than that given by another human. Reborn hated to admit it, but the small amount of pleasure he got from Tsuna was better than any woman he had slept with, even when it had been a man (he, of course, was the dominant), the brunet just _knew_ where to hit and touch the right spots to drive him wild.

"Hmm…what shall I do to you? Perhaps we should play a game. How about candles?" Tsuna smiled affectionately, unbuttoning Reborn's shirt, revealing the toned skin underneath. He licked his lips and leaned over to run his tongue over the flesh, feeling the body underneath tease and flex back. Pinching a nipple, his cunning eyes watched as Reborn clench his teeth, refusing to make a sound to that. He squeezed and rubbed the tip provocatively, watching and listening as the body below him desperately tried not to squirm. Regardless of Reborn's tight will and control over his own body, he couldn't stop his own toes from curling and his hips from pressing against Tsuna's body, which caused another shiver. Tsuna looked absolutely ecstatic at the reaction. "Or perhaps a whip? I want to hear you scream and beg. I've always liked going for men than woman, they're more fun to break apart. Women always either give the same expression or they fall far too easily and it's no fun. But men, on the other hand, are more amusing to watch, especially the strong-willed ones like you, ones that think they are so great and powerful, only to be stripped away and fall into the pleasure that corrupts their body."

Tsuna ran his fingers over Reborn's chest, leaving long red marks, and gave another squeeze on the nipple. His tongue went along the tip of the other bud, flicking it in a way that he felt the human's body jolt against his own in response. He was enjoying his little taunting, enjoying the way Reborn was looking at him, and he could slowly see that fear and delight of his acts settling into those prideful eyes. It just so happened that this puny little human had caught his interest, oh, he was going to keep this one for a while. He hadn't had this type of spark in his long life for a while and he wasn't going to let it go anytime soon. He was going to relish every second he could get.

"You won't be the first one to fall victim to me and I doubt you'll be the last. Tell me, how long do you think you could last against me? Especially since you've been caught right now and turned on by these simple acts." Tsuna rubbed his crotch against Reborn's, smiling wispily when he felt that shiver run down the hunter's spine, a moan just barely slipping from that mouth in defiance of the hunter's will. He could just feel the hardness underneath those clothes, pressing up against him, wanting to escape the fabric hold. And he did it again and again, knowing very well that Reborn's body was acting on its own, rebelliously thrusting upward to meet his own.

The hunter's breathing had gotten ragged, his hands shaking in a hopeful attempt to be released, but his will was still strong despite the little moans that escaped his throat and the heat that was pooling at the base of his stomach. Oh god, it felt good, but he refused to give in. He wasn't going to allow the demon see him crack, to see him fall into that pleasure that repeatedly attacked him. He was the hunter, the one that preyed over - and that thought was broken when the demon grinded painfully good against him, making him release a shaky moan. He was close, so _close_.

And then Tsuna smiled once more, backing off cruelly, his fingers drifting off the legs in a teasing matter. "Well, I better let you off this time with a warning. I'm not _that_ cruel to take you against his will." Snapping his fingers, the invisible ropes that had been holding the hunter were gone, letting his body relax against the couch. Smirking, he got up, leaving Reborn on his own on the couch, knowing that this time the hunter wasn't going to be able to relax and wait for his erection to go away.

Reborn sneered to himself, hating himself for going along with Tsuna's touches despite being unwilling. He knew that unless he wanted to be back in this position, he'd better watch his words and actions around the demon less he actually meet a fate far worse than what an enemy could do to him. Tsuna was dangerous enough as it was and most of the items, no, all the items that he'd used against demons were practically useless against him.

He has two more days before heading to Vongola, he hoped his pride didn't act before he had thought things out less he'll be back in this situation again with much worse consequences. Probably with his pants off if he goes too far.

Reborn cursed, just what the hell has he gotten himself into?


	7. Mission 3: Part 1

"I can't believe I'm actually doing this." Reborn huffed as he drove into Vongola headquarters, Tsuna right beside him in the car, sitting with his legs folded up against him. The seat belt was around the brunet due to Reborn's arguments since he didn't feel like wasting time with the police along the way. Though he did wonder what would happen if they were to get into an accident and Tsuna went flying out the window…Reborn kept such thoughts to himself.

The giant stone mansion, or castle, was just ahead, numerous cars littering the area in sections, and he drove up to the lot that was specifically meant for higher ups like himself. The place itself from the outside wasn't fancy, just old looking, with the stones starting to crumble from the weather, but even with that, it was a symbol to demon hunters. Sighing, he turned to the demon beside him, who clearly looked disinterested at the surrounding and yawned in boredom, his appendages gone from sight.

So far for the past two days, he had been able to keep his attitude in check and in return, wasn't sexually assaulted. No, Tsuna had mostly kept to himself, entertaining and passing the time with the TV and browsing through Reborn's numerous books. The brunet had taken that moment to start tearing out pages from those said books, stating that these words were nothing more than lies. At first, the hunter had been furious, but after a while gave into the brunet's demands, keeping an eye on him while catching up on his own things. If anything, those two days were simply peaceful, nothing out of the ordinary and Tsuna was merely an extra presence in his household that strangely had a tendency to sneak into his bed during the night. Reborn still hadn't figured out how the demon was able to bypass his normally attune senses.

As the hunter opened the door to his car, he stepped out, looking over the castle with disdain before walking towards it with his hands inside his pants' pockets. He didn't like coming here, it was too stuffy, too many people, and far too many arguments that occurred within these large quarters. Sleep was many times not an option with the numerous explosions that occurred and the screaming between fellow hunters and Reborn enjoyed his sleep, shooting anyone that dared disturb it. Though Tsuna tended to sneak around and into his bed, he never did wake Reborn up nor disturb him which was something the hunter could tolerate. Though, he did not stand for the demon being such a cuddlier however.

Tsuna followed the hunter right behind, trailing to his left side, and wiggled his nose at all the artifacts that had been used around the place. It made his skin crawl, but he could deal with it. As they stepped up the stairs towards the front door, Tsuna took note of the numerous guards that surrounded the area, keeping an eye out for demons, with numerous weapons in hand.

"Hmm, do they know that looking out like that doesn't really help?" Tsuna questioned as he watched the giant front doors open, following in behind Reborn. His eyes drifting over the doors that had gold like spirals around the edges and had a shield symbol on them that he guessed represented Vongola.

"Yes, but they do it anyway."

"Oh? How stupid. It's just wasting life or I guess, in a sense, giving a chance for those inside to escape?" Tsuna remarked cruelly, his honey-colored eyes sharp as he watched Reborn for any changes in expression and he saw it, a smirk. To them both, they knew that the people guarding outside were nothing more than bait, sacrifices towards those inside. How human-like. It was far too obvious to the both of them, however, Tsuna was sent a glare from the hunter to keep his mouth shut on such matter and simply shrugged his shoulders, knowing it was true.

The front entrance, or main hallway, as Reborn stated, was grandiose, too overly decorated with crystal chandeliers and paintings on the side. Statues lined the walls and some were in the middle as if guiding the two down it, most of them white in color, and a couple had wings to represent angels. Tsuna noted a few where some angels were slaughtering demons and wiggled his nose at it in distaste. There were multiple staircases on both sides and the walls were painted both in a white and golden color. All in all, it was too embellished. Tsuna gave a grunt in disapproval, turning away from the items.

"You think so, too?" Reborn glanced back for a moment, still heading down the hallway to the main ballroom where he was certain everyone else was already inside waiting. He wasn't late, but he wasn't early, he made sure to arrive just on time.

"Obviously. Don't decorate a place so expensively if it's going to be destroyed, there's no point."

Reborn smirked at that and nodded to the guards that were standing next to the ballroom doors, opening it up for him. The guards took a momentarily glance at Tsuna, but didn't say anything as the two stepped into the room, well aware of the bright lights that were shining above. More chandlers, more golden colored walls, more statues, Tsuna sneered in distaste, but kept his tongue as he noticed everyone's attention inside was on them. Reborn ignored it, heading towards the large rectangular table that was probably prepared for this large number of people, counting two hundred over seats. He kept his pace graceful, holding no haste or nervousness in it and went to the front of the table where a golden-haired man sat dressed in a pinstripe suit and a black cape wrapped around his shoulders.

Tsuna's sharp eyes immediately went to the Vongola Sky ring and searched for that demonic blood within the blonde and he sensed it. It was stronger than he expected, but he shouldn't be surprised and that burning sky flame was scorching within that human body. However, he didn't say anything, remaining quiet as he listened to the conversation.

"Ah, Reborn, it's good to meet you again. I take it that you've been well?" The blonde smiled softly, standing up from his seat to greet the other hunter.

The sun Arcobaleno tilted his fedora as an acknowledgement. "Ah, Giotto, yes, I've been well. Just the usual trouble and missions," He smirked, but Tsuna noticed a level of attitude change like Reborn was holding back on his usual starkness and sarcastic comments. The demon found it different from the usual and sadly missed the Reborn he had gotten used to. Folding his arms, he continued to listen. "Or should I say, Vongola Decimo."

The boss just laughed humoredly, waving his hand. "Giotto is fine. Reborn, you're the best hunter in the world, there's not need to be tense around me."

"Yes, but you're also my boss and the one that holds the money for my missions as well." Reborn glared momentarily, well aware of the redhead that was beside the blonde narrowing his eyes in response, and smirked soon after. His eyes turned back to Tsuna for a moment, watching the brunet for anything, before going back to his boss.

The brunet immediately noticed the detestation radiating from the redhead, those hatred-filled eyes turned towards the man beside him, noting the storm ring on the middle finger, before turning to the other five men at the front table, surrounding the boss carefully. Knuckle and Alaude he recognized, but the three others he didn't. The one with the lightning ring looked the youngest of the group with a white button up shirt and blue pants like the color of his eyes, but the only thing that seemed to be the most eye-catching was the green hair and that little lightning bolt under the right eye. Other than that, he looked somewhat boring in Tsuna's mind, nothing really noteworthy.

Tsuna then peered at the one with the mist ring, narrowing his eyes slightly at the sight. He suppressed a shiver, he didn't like this one, and had a slight sense of evil on the man, but regardless he examined him. The person had an oddly shaped blue hair, something akin to a watermelon with that spike in the back and the way the two lines on top zigzagged. The clothes seemed French with a long dark blue coat, red shirt underneath, and black pants.

The last one, the rain ring bearer, had a different appearance compared to the rest of the European inheritance of the other members, Asian, Tsuna noted. With black hair and bright looking eyes, the demon thought for a moment that this person looked the most out of place, but then he saw it, the darkness dwelling in those orbs and smirked.

"Now, now, it's alright," It was then that the Vongola boss noticed Reborn's little companion. He took a quick observation, examining everything, and Tsuna himself felt a little unnerved by the stare, but didn't show it. No, the brunet simply returned the gaze, not hesitating or backing off, before turning it into a glare when the blonde continued on after a minute. The demon knew Giotto was looking at his form, his blood, and observing for anything that would give him off as an enemy and though Tsuna knew he wasn't considered, his demonic blood might not be so forgiving to the other. Eventually, Giotto turned away with a smile, looking back at Reborn. "I take it that this is the companion you had that Knuckle mentioned."

"Yeah, he's quite helpful."

"Really?" The redhead, or well, pink-haired man in Reborn's eyes, glowered at him in disbelief, looking at the brunet for a moment before back. He had an arrogant grin on his lips as if he had found something interesting. "You're kidding? That kid doesn't even look old enough to wield a gun. What is he to you? Bait? A shield?"

Reborn glared instantaneously, the air in the room dropping slightly at the insult, and flicked his fedora upward to get a better look at the idiot. The chattering among the room stopped, all eyes turning to the two in front as they felt the chill run through the atmosphere. For the first time, Giotto's calmness was starting to fall apart, panic being revealed in his eyes. He knew better than to let anyone go against Reborn, human or not, that man could kill anyone without lifting a finger. The rest of the hunters in the room knew that as well, no one insulted Reborn and got away with it, not even the Vongola boss. Tsuna raised an eyebrow at the change, knowing that though the insult had been directed at him, he knew that Reborn's pride of having to hide behind someone else was the thing that snapped the human. He stepped closer to watch, curious at how the other would respond.

"This is coming from an idiot who decided that setting himself on fire during a battle would be the smartest thing in the world," Reborn sneered, the look in his eyes sending shivers down all the humans in the room, Tsuna still remaining as he is. "By the way, when did you decide dyeing your hair pink wouldn't be an obvious marker to a demon? You stand out, asshole. You're like a big pink target with flashing letters, hit me!" He was getting tempted to whip out his gun and start shooting, his fingers already getting twitchy.

There was a tint of redness on the redhead, no, pink-haired man's face, embarrassed at those words before growling. "Damn you! I bet you keep the kid around so you can play around him in-between missions! Didn't know you swing that way much less to brats, you pedo!"

Tsuna twitched at that. 'Brat?' Reborn had different thoughts running through his mind and looked positively livid despite his attempt to hide his rage. Those that were near the bickering two were starting to back away, knowing that there was going to be an explosion soon.

Giotto sighed, putting a hand on his face, and looked between the raging two before glancing at Tsuna. He paled at the sight of those honey-colored eyes that had a small hue of orange mixed in, the end result and promise behind that glare wasn't going to be something he liked, he could tell. 'G, just what are you trying to do? Someone stop him!'

"Now, now, G, you shouldn't say such things, it's rude." The Asian man smiled happily despite the situation and made small waves with his hands, trying to calm the one with the worst temper.

"Shut it, Flute Freak! I have issues with Reborn and his boy-toy, don't get involved!"

This time Tsuna stepped in before the older man could say anything. "Hey, will you shut the hell up? You're starting to grate on my nerves. Keep talking and I'll set you on fire." He sneered, tempted to snap out his wings and tail, but knew it wouldn't be the smartest thing in a room filled with hunters.

G looked skeptical at that and then laughed, pointing at the demon in amusement. "Oh look, you can use magic? Ha! Bet it's really weak. You look far too young to use magic anyway, do you know how hard it is to learn magic? I bet you had to spread your legs to learn a few things from Reborn."

Reborn chuckled darkly, backing away, and folded his arms, wondering what had made the demon want to step in. But going over the conversion, the few insults might have done the job. Still if he could see the pink-haired idiot get blown up, that would definitely make his day. Tsuna's right eye twitched and his fingers were curled up into a fist, oh, he was really going to let go at this rate. This human just had a way with words that made him want to lash out.

"I bet when you cast a fire spell it'll be a puny little ball just like you!"

"That's it! Take this! Flame Lance!" And just like that, the air tensed, watching a fire-engulfed sword come out of nowhere, heading straight for G. There were a few cries in distress, however, G managed to dodge at the last moment, watching as the sword slammed into his previous spot where he would have been split in half. Tsuna smirked and snapped his fingers. Soon after, the area surrounding the area exploded, ensnaring anything nearby in flames. G was the only one within range.

"Oh shit! Oh shit! I'm on fire!" The pink-haired man screeched, running around in a frenzy, feeling the heat all over him. It wasn't until a couple yells from his companions that he remembered to actually stop, drop, and roll to get rid of the scorching flames.

Tsuna was laughing gleefully, looking positively evil in that single moment, with Reborn right beside him with the widest grin anyone has ever seen. It was hilarious to the two while everyone in the room remained quiet, afraid that they might end up like G on the floor. Giotto patted down his friend, sighing in relief that nothing had been terribly burned, just some redness and first-degree burns, the clothes had luckily protected G from the worst of it. He picked himself up and turned to the two, looking a little bit nervous at being targeted next. "I apologize for my right-hand's words, I did not think he would act in such a way towards you."

"He had it coming." Reborn huffed, pulling at one of his curls only to have it springing back up into place. Tsuna nodded in reply, agreeing with his companion.

"Once more, I'm sorry. However, I'm quite surprised about your friend. I've never expected to see such a person. He completely bypassed the incantation for a spell."

That the hunter didn't have a response for, however, Tsuna did. "I'm a magic expert and extremely knowledgeable in demons and demonic affairs," The brunet didn't like how he was getting quite a bit of looks among the group the second he spoke those words and closed his eyes before looking back. "Now then, surely you called Reborn for a reason besides some childish bickering. There are better things to do and I do not appreciate wasting my time on such pointless matters when all you're going to do is fight between each other."

Reborn laughed at Giotto's speechless expression, he was beginning to like Tsuna and his sharp tongue, it was too amusing to give up even when it was directed at him at times. The Vongola boss stuttered some words and the two found themselves settling into a pair of chairs far away from the smoking G and shocked Giotto. The boss's companions, some of them were even laughing, but the rest of the group - even the other hunters - was dead silent. They knew better than to say anything. If there was one person that could get away with badmouthing the boss, it was Reborn and perhaps Reborn's little friend as well now? Alaude and the man that bore the mist ring were staring at the two in interest, the bloodlust showing in their eyes.

As Giotto regained his composure, he went through the usual greetings, trying to ignore what had just happened a few minutes ago. Reborn leaned close to the brunet with a smirk, clearing ignoring the speech. "That was impressive."

"Oh? I take it you like my comments to be pointed towards someone else than yourself?" Tsuna smiled teasingly, eyes closed for a moment, knowing that he was correct. It was too obvious, but regardless, he found it funny. Reborn just didn't have the same expressions that the other humans did. "Still, I saw you grinning in satisfaction at watching pinky burn alive. The human deserved it when he was accursing both of us wrongly. Well, anyway, Reborn, why is everyone staring at me in wonder and all wide-eyed?"

The hunter snorted, glaring at some straying stares that seemed to obvious mean more than just a simple look. Those eyes were drifting up and down Tsuna's figure and seem to stray at the mid-drift that was showing. Could the charm spells still be effecting on those surrounding them? "Well besides the perverts in the group, what you announced yourself as is a rarity. Magic experts are hard to come by, most you find are either too old to fight or have blown themselves up in trying to find more power. You, on the other hand, look young and are still alive. Some like myself may know a few here and there to protect ourselves, but it's generally around the basics and must speak an incantation in order to use the spell. Hunters like myself would want to have you by their side to help out during jobs. Also, you being profound in demons and their culture also single you out further. It's definitely more common than magic experts, but these people are normally bookworms, they don't fight. So when they see someone with a combination of two hard to find in one person, you look like a gem in their eyes."

"Well isn't that pleasant?" Tsuna huffed, still not liking the attention. He should have rethought his words, but it was already too late. He'll have to deal with the problems later and leaned back against the chair with his eyes closed. "So, who are all these people?"

"Different famiglias of hunters that belong or are allied to the Vongola famiglia. Some are skilled, others just managed to get off lucky. Regardless, it's uncommon to have this many hunters called out for something like this unless it was major or dangerous." Reborn paused as the tone in Giotto's voice finally turned serious, eyes peering towards the direction. He needed to hear what was going on and it had better be important to drag him all the way out here. Tsuna peeked an eye open before closing it, still listening the conversation, and yet looked like he was fast asleep.

"Now then, since pleasantries are over, let's get down to business. There has been an attack at headquarters multiple times this month," Giotto announced, his voice radiating over the entire ballroom. Whispers broke out among the other hunters, but were silenced when the blonde continued on. "At first, we thought it was something minor, however, the disturbances have been picking up and many of our fellow hunters, even from other famiglias have lost their lives within Vongola castle. It's a terrible lost and should not occur under any circumstances."

Tsuna twitched, taking a glance behind him, before going back to the table. Reborn's eyes snapped to him at his sudden movement, but the brunet simply shrugged his shoulders, not wanting to go into it. This would have to be spoken about outside the meeting and away from the other hunters, who could easily eavesdrop.

"We haven't been able to determine the cause of death of our fellow hunters, however, it seemed to have occurred 24-48 hours after meeting the demons. On each person's chest seems to be some sort of timed curse that appears soon after killing the demon," G stood up, trying to appear like nothing happened and that his clothes weren't all scorched and smoky. "We have yet to identify a demon that is capable of doing such things which is why we're requesting help. Each demon that was reported is different than the other and due to the massive variety, it's quite hard to search for each one, not only that, it seems that they aren't on any of our current records."

"Perhaps it's a new breed?" One voice spoke out.

"Or a demon we've never fought before?"

"Tsuna," Reborn whispered gently, making sure his voice wouldn't be overheard by the others. "What do you make of this?"

The demon sighed, shoulders slumping slightly. He looked depressed for some odd reason and took another glance back behind him. "You're not going to like the answer. Not at all. But before I say anything, it would be best to see the bodies first to confirm the type of curse."

Reborn nodded to that, at least Tsuna wasn't stupid to start blurting out things without thinking through. He then leaned forward to get the attention of the rest of the hunters. "Then perhaps for now, if any of us were to engage into a fight with the demons, it would be best to run away and report the incident. It seems to be that killing it is what starts the curse so if we avoid fighting, we're spared."

"Reborn is correct," Giotto spoke, getting all eyes back on him. His bright blue orbs had been watching the interaction between Reborn and Tsuna carefully, there was something off about the brunet, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Whatever he was, human or not, it was concealed carefully and professionally, but if Reborn trusted this person enough to bring him into the Vongola base then he would do nothing. Though he did find it curious the way Tsuna kept turning back to look at a wall with a glare. When he turned to follow it, he saw nothing but stone. "If anyone can solve the mystery to this situation, please note there will be a dutiful reward. If you feel that you'd rather not take part, please leave immediately."

Almost at once, half of the room left, the sounds of chairs squeaking as they went back. Tsuna was a little shocked at the amount that would actually leave, watching as they all tried to squeeze through the hallway to get out. Some looked like they were running, trying to get away as soon as possible. Giotto seemed to sigh at that, glancing over the rest of the members that had decided to stay. "I can understand that the thought of death scares a lot of people, but I believed that there would have been more brave warriors among the group."

"Don't feel down, Giotto, it's to be expected. Death is just something no one wants to face." Asari, the rain bearer, smiled cheerfully, brightening up the mood slightly. As the door closed, everyone attention went back to those that remained. Of course, Reborn and Tsuna was still around, settled among empty chairs.

"Boss," Another voice spoke, a hunter had had been sitting a few feet away from the two. "What is this reward? I would like to know before making my decision."

"Ah, yes, we decided carefully on this and knew that this was a dangerous job and in turn would need a big reward. Vongola as you may know has numerous forbidden tomes and we've decided to give one of them away as a reward for this job. As for what the tome is about, I'm afraid it's in demonic language. Myself and my guardians are unable to read it sadly so anything you learn from it is yours to keep. We will also be giving half a million euro as well." Giotto nodded his head.

And then, just like that, more people stood up, leaving the room like it was nothing, muttering words that a book, forbidden or not, and that amount of cash wasn't worth the trouble and having a high chance of losing their life over. Tsuna peered at Reborn curiously. "What about you?"

"I have you, don't I?" The hunter smirked. "I guess you're considered insurance, however, if you know this is something you can't mess with, let me know."

"No, it's fine. We can do this mission. It's best if we do…" Tsuna glanced behind again, knowing he had Reborn's full attention once more whose face was staring at him curiously in question. "I don't like this at all. After we're dismissed, I'll let you know what I know…and what I've been looking at this entire time."

Reborn nodded to that.

"Alright then, those remaining please investigate as much as you like to get what information you need. Vongola base shall give you whatever you need to complete this. You have my deepest gratitude." As Giotto said that, everyone started standing up and heading towards different directions, disappearing behind doors that lead out to multiple hallways. Reborn and Tsuna remained back for a moment before the human turned towards the boss after standing up.

"Giotto, where are the bodies?"

"In the basement at the usual place, allow me to show it to you." The blonde stood up, only to be waved off by Reborn. They didn't need any extra trouble from the Vongola boss since their conversations needed to be as private as possible, Reborn didn't want to bring the topic of Tsuna being a demon or knowing about odd things to be included. The hunter and demon began heading off towards the direction, but not before Giotto noticed Tsuna waving towards the wall as if motioning something to come closer.

And then he saw it, a small glittery sparkle that detached and reattached itself onto Tsuna's clothes. The brunet turned around as if knowing he had been caught and placed a finger to his lips as if saying 'shhh'. It was at that moment, Giotto felt as if he was in a trance, staring at the way Tsuna swung his body from side to side almost…deliciously. However, that broke the second the door closed behind, leaving the Vongola boss in question about what had just occurred to him.

* * *

The two companions remained quiet as they walked as far away from the rest of the occupants of the place, checking now and then to ensure that no one was following them. They passed by other hunters, maids, and some others that lived in the Vongola base, but still they didn't dare speak a word. They listened as other demon hunters spoke to each other, whispering and laughing, before going silent once more. Rumors were floating around about this mission like they were hints and Reborn listened to them, however, without Tsuna's approval, they were simply what they are, rumors. As they got further away from the main areas and into more secluded parts of Vongola base, there were less people and noises, leaving them more alone and in silence.

"Tsuna, what is it that you couldn't tell me in the room?" Reborn suddenly asked as he turned to the demon slightly while they continued to go down the hallway towards an elevator. It was one of the few that was connected to the basement and one that was used less often due to the distance. They strode down, ignoring the fleeting glances from the staff and fellow hunters who were investigating the area for clues. Though there weren't as many in this part of the area, they still had to be careful about prying eyes and ears. Things would spread quickly within such a small area, something Reborn would like to avoid happening.

"Bodies first, then I'll say something." Tsuna muttered, reaching up to pat something on his shoulder gently. Reborn raised an eyebrow at the odd motion, but didn't see anything on the said shoulder, shrugging it off for the time being as they entered the elevator, waiting for the doors to open to their destination. The moment it did, it was obvious that this area was much different compared to the rest of the castle, not as grandiose as upstairs, and Tsuna and Reborn seemed to settle better in this atmosphere in relief. They liked these types of areas better and were far more used to it.

Stepping out the doors to the basement area, the two first peered in and saw nothing. There were more hallways, but this time, it was completely empty. Heading down, Reborn took the lead, guiding their way to one end where a pair of doors was at. There were some noises muffled out from behind it and a light seeping from below the doors like it was trying to creep out. Together, they opened the doors, hearing the hinges creaked from the lack of use, and looked out into the large opening.

In the center were numerous people surrounding multiple bodies, many of them crying and bending over, shoulders quivering. The corpses were placed neatly on the floor, a few lucky ones were placed in coffins, all with a white cloth covering the entire form to hide whatever horrors underneath, and were lined up evenly, equally spaced apart. Those crying must be the love ones… Reborn grunted in disapproval, knowing that the screaming and wailing was nothing more than a distraction towards their mission, stepping in without care and headed towards the first body he came up to. Two people were standing behind that body, a mother and child by the looks of it, eyes closed with their faces red with tears. They momentarily looked up at Reborn's approach, staring at him in question.

Tsuna followed right behind, eyes peering over the area as if scanning it for something. Finding nothing, he went back to the body and kneeled down beside the hunter, pulling the sheet off of it to see the body underneath. The family yelled at them in disapproval, covering their own faces from the dreadfulness beneath, and the two gained some attention from some of the other families in the room almost immediately while others remained in their own world. Reborn and Tsuna ignored them, examining the corpse thoroughly, picking the clothes up to look at the flesh. The body was pale in color, with no external injuries that would be life-threatening, and Tsuna further went down until he saw what he wanted.

"A curse mark," Tsuna muttered, Reborn's eyes zooming onto that spot and reached forward to touch it before looking up at the demon. "I was afraid of this. This mark just makes it worse. I'm going to see the other bodies." Standing up, he went to each body, ignoring the crying people, and even shoved a few aside as gently as possible to get what he needed and pulled the covers back to see each and every mark. Each body was the same, nothing life-threatening, just the same curse mark. There were about twenty-six corpses in total. "All the same. Damn, I'm afraid that these hunters have been tricked terribly."

Reborn glanced over to the demon, waving him to follow, and get out of room and out of earshot of anyone else. The glares and yelling from the people within was beginning to get on his nerves and took his gun out to shot at the ceiling in warning. The room went quiet, scared out of their wits at the obvious threat. Scanning over the room, the hunter left without saying a word with Tsuna beside him, still deep in thought. There were other hunters entering the same room, wanting to look at the marks as well and were met with the same amount of resistance from the families.

The two contracted partners went up the elevator to the fourth floor where Reborn knew it would be silent having been here before and went towards a room in the far back, sealing it off from eavesdroppers. He turned to Tsuna, arms folded, eyes saying that he wanted answers. "What do you mean by that from before? That they have been tricked."

"Perhaps this little guy can shed some light on the situation," Tsuna turned to the little speck that had been hiding in his clothes the entire time and tapped it gently. However, to Reborn, he saw nothing, no movement, no anything. The brunet noticed the look and sighed. "Ah, that's right. You need to make yourself visible. This human can't see you and don't worry, he will not harm you."

"O-Okay…" A little glitter started falling down from out of nowhere and slowly Reborn watched as something began to fade in above, just appearing in the spot Tsuna had touched. Reborn blinked his eyes to make sure he was seeing correctly, wondering in the back of his head if he was finally losing it. A little creature settled on Tsuna's shoulder was about the size of a human fist with a bright blue garb that a belt wrapped around the middle. But the wings were what caught the hunter off guard, they were fluttering rapidly like an insect and dust fell from it in response. The creature, a tiny human appearance, looked at the sun Arcobaleno shyly, tiny blue eyes were peering up though pink hair. "H-Hi, I'm Heather, a Milika."

"A fairy?" Reborn looked skeptical as he continued to stare, this was the first time he had ever seen one and this close, too. He always thought and believed that fairies didn't like humans and refused to show themselves to them due to their impurity.

"Actually," Tsuna started, peering over to the fairy then back. "Fairies, leprechauns, elves, and many other mystical creatures are related to demons in one way or another. The only difference in that they are demons of light that bring happiness, luck, and many other good things to the world and not demons of darkness that are more well-known. There are demons in-between that do a little of both as well."

" _This is something that is true and will remain true forever: 'Not all demons are evil, not all angels are good, and humans are ever-changing'"_

'So that's what he meant.' Reborn huffed, looking over the fairy once more, still in disbelief that this was still considered a demon. It was confusing and yet Heather didn't say anything to deny it.

"This fairy is supposed to watch over children and protect them until they reach adulthood, protection against the evils of the world in a sense," Tsuna went further into detail. "And to kill one is considered an act against the Fairy God or King, Oberon, and the demon lords that dwell below in Hell. Those that kill demons of light that protect good will be placed under a terrible curse. To them, it's considered a betrayal."

Reborn's eyes widened immediately, looking at Tsuna in shock, remembering the marking on all the bodies, and then at the fairy. It all now made sense. The hunters here were attacking creatures of light and in turn were punished for their betrayal, for their crimes they weren't aware about. And in turn had doomed innocent people…but how could it happen? That was the question now. He doubted these demons would simply go around attacking random people much less come to Vongola mansion of all places. Something wasn't right… "Is it possible that someone or something is drawing them here or controlling them?"

"Yes, there seems to be some sort of device here that's simply drawing us, almost by force. We have no choice but to follow," The small creature spoke, its words almost hard to hear if Reborn hadn't leaned further to listen. It was a high pitch squeak and he had no clue whether it was a male's voice or a female's, but he guessed the latter due to the name. "My friends and I are all wandering the place and eventually got lost due to the traps you humans laid out against our kind."

"And the hunters here thought you were demons and attacked, am I correct?"

"Yes. I was attacked as well, but this strange person appeared out of nowhere and saved me before I was killed," The fairy continued to speak, remaining seated on Tsuna's shoulders. The wings began to stop moving, slowing down from the lack of use, giving Reborn a clear vision of them. Those wings looked like tiny dragonflies with how long it spread out, all four wings, and it had a soft blue hue on it with some pink as dots in the center. "He then told me that he'll find the others and try to save them and then said that I should hide for the time being. When I smelled a similar scent on Tsuna here that was on that man, I wanted to follow and find out."

Tsuna perked up at that curiously, peering down at the little creature with a questioning look. "Someone that smelled similar to me?"

Heather nodded rapidly. "Yes, he does. It's not by type of demon, but just the scent that usual rubs off when you're around each other for a long time. When I smelled that, I believed you were his friend and followed along. The scent on you has rubbed off on the human as well."

At that, Reborn looked down at himself with an eyebrow raised. He smelled like Tsuna?

"Friend?" The brunet's eyes widened for a moment, heading towards the door as if realizing something, rushing out in a frenzy. The fairy was caught unnoticed, spinning around in the air before getting her wings moving, forcing herself back on balance, looking at the retreating demon in confusion. Reborn had the same expression and followed along as well, his gun already out just in case for attack or if worse, an enemy. He called out, wanting to know what was going on, but Tsuna didn't answer, concentrating on something else.

As the brunet slammed open the door, he twirled around to come face to face with a black-haired man, a couple inches taller than himself. Reborn was out next, examining the person before him curiously, never before seeing him in any of his memory or at the table with the other hunters. The man was tall, exactly around his height, looking around his mid-twenties, but Reborn's experience could tell that those sharp brown eyes told of experience more so than the physical age. He further examined the person, noticing a scar on the right side of the chin and wearing a neat black suit with a blue undershirt. A long sword was hanging on the back, strapped on, and his expression was equally surprised as Tsuna's. The two stared at each other for a moment, taking in the situation, before yelling.

"Takeshi?!"

"Tsuna?!"


	8. Mission 3: Part 2

" _Takeshi?!"_

" _Tsuna?!"_

The two stared at each other, not sure on what to say first before the black-haired man named Takeshi answered with a wide grin. He brought his arms back around his neck, looking quite tranquil despite the surprise. "Hey, Tsuna, what are you doing here?"

The brunet sighed, relaxing almost instantly, and ran a hand through his hair, smirking. "That should be my question," He shifted his weight and folded his arms, letting his hips protrude outward to one side. "Well, I got contracted to a hunter named Reborn and we came here due to death curses that have been occurring in this location."

Tsuna motioned to the said hunter behind him, who nodded his head for a greeting, muttering his usual word of 'Chaos' under his breath before becoming quiet to listen. Reborn was quite curious about this Takeshi person and if he was friends with Tsuna, did that mean that he too was a demon? The hunter tilted his head at that thought, the man didn't look like one, but he knew better than to judge a book by its cover, Tsuna was a good example of that. However, he didn't like how…friendly the brunet seemed with the other.

The demon took a step forward, eyes wandering over Takeshi's frame as if searching for any injuries. Nodding to himself when he found none, he continued. "What about you?"

"Ah, well, its kinda funny! I'm doing something similar too," The man, no, definitely demon, laughed happily, a large grin on his face and he swung himself side to side. He rubbed the back of his head, never once letting his cheery attitude disappear. "I got called by some panicking demons that there was something odd going on around this area so I infiltrated this place to find out. It was pretty easy though since the hunters around here aren't that smart."

"Or it could be your cheery attitude that just allows people to overlook you."

"But hey!" Takeshi went around and wrapped his arm along Tsuna's shoulders, dragging the tiny brunet against him. Since he was taller, he had to lean over to get a better visual of the brunet, tightening his hold so that the other wouldn't be able to escape. His grin hadn't so much as twitched, still there like it was permanent, and Reborn could only stare as a blush beginning to appear on Tsuna's face, it wasn't dark, but noticeable. The hunter's eyes narrowed at that in surprise, were these two together? Then what about all the harassment he had to endure? What did that mean to the brunet and himself? Perhaps…he really was just food for the incubus. "If we're both doing the same thing, let's work together like old times. We'll get the work done twice as fast!"

"I have no issues with that. What about you, Reborn?" Tsuna squirmed a bit in the grasp before settling into it as if enjoying the warmth and familiar touch. His nose twitched and peered up at the hunter curiously, moving a hand up to shift his bangs to the side so that they were out of his vision. If Tsuna was in his demon form, Reborn was certain that the long tail would be wrapped around Takeshi's waist to bring their bodies closer. He didn't like it.

"It's fine, the more help the better," The hunter stated unwillingly, hiding the undertone of his voice and his eyes by lowering his fedora. He wouldn't let his emotions get the better of him, not now. The fairy remained quiet as she fluttered around in confusion, scared of the dark aura that was being emitted from the human. "Let's talk more about this inside and away from any unwanted listeners. There are a lot of demon hunters in this area wandering about."

"Yes, of course. Come, Takeshi, let's head in. It's been so long since I've last seen you. How long has it been, fifty years?" Tsuna was smiling brightly, looking completely different from his usual snarky state, and began to drag the taller demon inside the room, the other not even struggling from the force.

"Ahaha, yeah, it has, hasn't it? Wow, time just knows how to fly by."

"Well, seeing as what we are, time doesn't mean much to us."

"That's true! Wow, this game sure lasts a long time, doesn't it?"

"You're still saying that? Well, you wouldn't be Takeshi if you didn't." Tsuna smiled sincerely, pushing further against the other demon like he was searching for comfort from an old friend, looking quite happy compared to his normal behavior.

Reborn, for a moment, thought that his partner had been replaced. He had never once seen him look that happy to anyone, not even him, and that was saying something. Though, they had only know each other for what? Four, five days top? It wasn't a lot of time to get to know one another and they generally spend half the time arguing with each other. He followed the two demons into the room that they had just come out of, closing and locking it behind, and settled onto a couch that was within. Apparently, the fairy, Heather, had decided to stick with him, fluttering around his head before sitting onto a pillow.

The two demons were in their own world, talking among each other like gossiping girls, but well, if they haven't seen each other for fifty years as Tsuna said, one would think they would have a lot to talk about. "After this whole thing is done and over with, we should hang out for a while before heading back out. Catch up and everything. Oh, and you need to visit Hayato too, he's been so lonely in Hell without you around to brighten up his day."

"Hayato? Lonely?" There was some surprise on the taller demon's face before breaking out a wide grin. He suddenly looked slightly embarrassed and gave a small laugh. "Oh, wow, didn't expect that. Wait, maybe I did. Well whatever, I'll see him after we finish this whole mess up. Should I surprise him? Bring him a gift?"

'If I didn't know they were demons, I would think they were chattering with each other like normal human beings.' Reborn huffed to himself, continuing to watch the scene before him. It really was like Tsuna had done a complete switch in personality, it was…odd compared to the usual coldness and smugness that he was always met with. There was an occasional smile here and there and some words that were thrown with warmth, but not like this. This Tsuna felt warm and caring and he sighed, he shouldn't be thinking on such things, they had more important things to do. "Hey, you two, let's finish this mission first, after that you can go back to your chattering. I don't want to be here any longer than I have to."

Takeshi peered at him with a smile, stepping away from Tsuna for a moment. "Sure, no problem! You're Reborn, right? I'm Takeshi Yamamoto! Nice to meet you!" He took a few steps forward to get closer to the human and outstretch his hand for a shake. "Let's work together, okay? Oh, and you know that Tsuna's a demon right? So am I. Isn't that cool?! I'm a Nokk so I'm more of a water specialist and I can also rain flames too. Ah, it's been a while since I've actually went out like this, much less actually having a chat with a human that knows who I am."

'Oh dear god, this one can talk,' Reborn raised an eyebrow at the cheerfulness the other showed and sighed at how open the Nokk is. 'Well, it's not like it's a bad thing. Maybe I could find out more stuff about Tsuna. But if I remember correctly, a Nokk is a male version of a Nixie that are known to have two tails, something similar to a mermaids, but aren't they known for drowning small children that get too close to the water? Maybe he's the same as Tsuna, different than the descriptions say.' Reaching up, he took the hand with a nod, remaining seated on the couch with his legs folded. "Good to meet you, as Tsuna may have already introduced me, I'm Reborn, a demon hunter."

"He's apparently the sun Arcobaleno, too". Tsuna cut in, popping beside Reborn, shaking the couch for a moment as he leaned over behind the human. He wrapped his arms around the hunter's neck, hanging on tightly for fun, but kept that pleased grin.

Surprise filled Takeshi's eyes. "Oh? That's amazing. That must mean that you're really powerful right? Cool! I bet Yuni would be so happy."

"Yuni?" Reborn questioned, not recognizing the name. "Who's this Yuni?"

"Ah, she's - how to say it…" Takeshi hummed to himself curiously, swinging side to side, with that grin in place. "Oh, well, it's fine, she's not really all that important to mention right now." The hunter wanted to face-palm at the stupidity the other demon showed, but he was also starting to think those grins of his was contagious. Heather was smiling too even though she hadn't done anything but listen. The atmosphere that had been previous dense and dark was now all cheery and bright, Takeshi's arrival changing everything. Funny that it was a demon that was causing it, but then again, if a fairy was one, he should expect it now.

"Well, who is your current Sky Arcobaleno?" Tsuna questioned, a bright smile on his face, looking quite comfortable in his position despite the squirming Reborn did in it to get out.

"Luce. Her name is Luce."

The brunet hummed to himself for a moment, deep in thought. "I see, well, what do you know?"

"Amazing, right?" Takeshi continued to smile, never looking deterred. "Hey, so what's going on with your side? Anything noteworthy for me to work with for our little problem? It'll be like old times!"

Reborn couldn't follow the questions anymore, there were too many, too rapid, and decided to zone out as the brunet handled everything. Tsuna chuckled at the antics Takeshi had and answered in turn, not hesitating to reveal what the two of them had just figured out. The information shared between the two wasn't any different than what they expected, no, they had both come to the same conclusion. Though getting Takeshi to talk long enough on the topic was troublesome, Tsuna didn't seem to mind, directing the conversation easily, knowing exactly what to do, while Reborn sat back to keep watch. The hunter continued to examine the water demon, but could not spot anything that would give him away, just like Tsuna. If anything, Takeshi blended in better since the suit he wore looked like everyone else in the base.

"So we just need to find the thing that's been drawing the fairies in, right? Shouldn't be hard, let's do it!"

"Alright, Takeshi."

'This sounds like a field trip,' Reborn sighed, wondering if he should say anything that would help stop the Nokk from running around like a child. 'Probably not.'

They departed from Heather, telling her to be careful within the Vongola base and hide somewhere to not be seen, while the rest went around, searching for whatever was drawing the demons in. Tsuna and Takeshi admitted that they couldn't feel anything so it was possible that it was trying to draw in weaker demons in a case. As they passed other hunters, who looked at the group in confusion, mainly because the two demons were attached hip to hip happily, and then at Reborn, the number one hunter, who seemed to have joined them, it was a strange sighting to them. The human sighed as he looked over the two. Normally, he was the one that would have been taken ahold of and never released, not Takeshi. Strange…having freedom didn't leave him all that happy.

As they went to a hallway, Takeshi suddenly stopped, realization suddenly coming to him about something. "Ah, that's right. I forgot to mention this from before. I was investigating this for a while, but I think it's coming from the lower levels."

Reborn and Tsuna stopped and turned to the other demon with a deadpanned expression and almost instantaneously, the two smacked Takeshi across the back of his head. "Why didn't you say that before?!"

* * *

"So, this is a secret passage…" Tsuna muttered as he looked down the dark path, tilting his head as he examined the area closely, watching for any strange movement. When he saw and sensed none, he turned back to Reborn and shook his head, letting the other know it was safe. Takeshi was right beside, his smile now small and somewhat weaker than before like he was getting serious.

"It's one of the many that exist in this manor. It's common knowledge that there are some hidden here and there, but not everyone knows where the doors are located. Many are interconnected below so if you find one, you can find many other entrances. I remember Giotto mentioning that he has been able to find over thirty doors, however, only five are really hallways of their own," Reborn peered up at the painting that contained the second head of Vongola, some ruff looking man with red eyes, and turned down the other paintings. There were currently ten in total with the last one being Giotto. The first one, the Primo, Stella Cielo, if he remembered correctly, was rumored to be half-demon and human. The shoulder-length golden hair that was tied neatly into a ponytail hung over the shoulders and piercing blue eyes that seemed unnatural-like stared out from the painting, Reborn tore his gaze away to look back at the other demons. For a moment, he saw Tsuna staring at the male figure of the Primo with a small hint of a smile. "Tsuna?"

"Hmm?" The burnet turned to him questionably before shaking his head. "It's nothing. We should get going."

Reborn didn't reply back to that, yet that foreign look that remained in Tsuna's eyes remained embedded into his memory. Slowly, the three began to make their way into the darkness of the passage, Tsuna in front and Takeshi at the back. Though Reborn despised feeling squished between two people like he was supposed to be protected, but held it in. The two demons could sense enemy movements, it was easier if they were in their areas to cover all sides and give Reborn a chance to react.

"I couldn't sense it before, but the moment we got far enough into this secret passage, there're a whole lot of demons roaming this area. The items Vongola was using to keep a demon's senses diluted fades in here." Takeshi spoke softly, watching as the painting began to close behind them, destroying what little light the place had. Reborn cursed, he didn't have a light with him and searched through his pockets to see if by chance he had a lighter or something. The moment the door closed shut, it was total darkness and he cursed again, he couldn't see anything, not even his own hands before his face.

'Damn…Just my luck.' As he thought that, an arm wrapped around his own, pulling him closer to a body, and narrowed his eyes in concentration, trying to figure out who had grabbed him. Noticing the size and that strange scent that flooded his nostrils, he knew it was Tsuna immediately.

"I'll guide you for now. It's best not to bring any lights out in this area, there are too many demons around at this moment. It'll be like drawing a moth to a flame, you'll be attacked immediately." Tsuna's voice was strong as ever and carefully guided the human down the path of darkness, Reborn only able to use his ears to hear where he was walking.

"I'll be attacked? What about you?"

"Takeshi and I are both demons, why would they attack their own kind?" There was a weak chuckle in that alluring voice. "However, humans have been killing them off, forcing them to hide in this place since they can't leave, they're rightfully angry and will attack at a moment's notice if you give them the chance."

"I see, alright then." With that, Reborn went quiet, listening only to the almost silent breathing of three people and the footsteps that followed. If he listened closely, he could hear some faint giggles, movements that sounded like something was being dragged, creaks, and even something dripping, it was almost overwhelming in such a dark place. He gave a weak grunt and continued onward, reassured that Tsuna would hopefully guide him safely.

Soon, there was movement beside him after five minutes and he heard Tsuna lifting up an arm and a light began to appear out of nowhere. It started as a small ball of white and then began to spread, getting larger, and floated up, illuminating the entire hallway. Reborn could now see the demon beside him clearly, able to recognize that soft brown hair rubbing against his shoulder, and raised an eyebrow. "We're now far enough from most demons, but I do sense something odd. There are a couple seemingly walking down some sort of pathway not too far away. It's like they are in another hallway close by. Is it possible?"

Reborn hummed to himself in question, thinking deep in through as he went over the entire Vongola layout. However, despite all his memorization, he couldn't recognize a hallway close by, no, there should be nothing there. Could it be? Another secret passage? A secret passage inside a secret passage, just how strange was the Primo? Takeshi went ahead and started patting down the walls carefully, searching for something.

"It looks like there should be an entrance around here somewhere to get to the other side. The hallway is just on the other side." The Nokk muttered to himself, tapping different stones to see if he could get a different sound except dullness.

Reborn watched carefully and remained still as Tsuna pulled away, touching the wall for a moment before pulling said hand back to make a fist. The human was about to question such action until there was a loud rumbling slam, Tsuna had apparently punched through the stone wall without a second thought. The wall crumbled at this strength, collapsing down, and parts of it rolling across the floor until it stopped. Reborn took a few steps back as some came his way, eyebrow raised at such a strange action the incubus has done. Dust covered the area for a moment, but with a quick flick of Tsuna's hand, it was blown away by a sudden gust of wind.

Takeshi blinked before breaking out into laughter. "Tsuna, you're acting like Kyoya!"

"Well, I decided that it'll be easier to do this than to waste time trying to find a switch anywhere down this pathway," The brunet grumbled under his breath, pushing away parts of the wall to reveal the other side. The stones were different than the hallway they had been, it was white, pure white from top to bottom, and there seemed to be some sort of light coming from above, radiating the entire place. It was completely the opposite of their side. Carefully, the three stepped into the new area, looking down back and forth to see which way to go, however, luckily for them, the back was closed off by a wall, the other side with a door. "I can go and investigate and come back."

"No," Reborn's dark voice broke through both demons', looking back at the hunter in curiosity. "We'll all go together. It's best if we do. There's no telling what's down here. If the item we're searching for is inside, there could be all sorts of demons as well wandering around too."

The brunet blinked. "But aren't you the only one that's really in any sort of danger? I mean, Takeshi and myself are demons, we'll live from any attack-"

"That's just it, you're demons, you too can get influenced by whatever is done here," Reborn fought back, if Tsuna was going to investigate about a door, he was going too. No way was he going to be left behind. "Besides, I'm the number one demon hunter, I can protect myself just fine."

At that, Tsuna smiled softly, wandering around the hunter to wrap his arms around. "Well, if you say so then I won't complain. Come." He began to drag along the taller man, but Reborn kept up, Takeshi trailing behind, eyes watching the interaction between the two companions closely.

The hallway was peaceful and everything looked the same, white floor, white walls, even the ceiling was white too. There were no designs, no sign of color, just white. It was like a giant box that seemed never ending, but eventually, they came up to the door in the distance with a single knob on it. It was almost unnoticed since it took blended right in.

Opening it carefully, the other side was nothing more than a giant room, about the size of a small ballroom, completely empty with two doors on each side, and it looked the same as the hallway. If anything else, it was boring to look at if not blinding at how the light above seemed to reflect over everything. The group of three peered at each other, knowing that they would have to split up. It was obvious that Reborn would have to go with one of the demons and Tsuna immediately tightened his hold on the human with a smile. "I guess you're stuck with me."

Reborn huffed, running a hand through his hair, and peered down at the petite demon and then at the Nokk. "Apparently so."

"Well, then I'll see you two later!" Takeshi grinned like normal, racing off towards the door to the left, disappearing behind it as it closed behind. It had happened so fast that they barely had time to blink. That left the two companions in the center of the room, now blinking curiously, before turning towards the door to the right. Tsuna was the first to take a step, keeping himself attached to Reborn, and the hunter simply followed along. Almost like magic, the cheerfulness on the brunet was gone the moment Takeshi left and he was back to his old snarky self. Reborn huffed at that, wiggling his nose in annoyance.

"You know, if you wanted to go with Takeshi, you still can." The demon hunter grumbled, opening the door, and glanced inside. It was just another white hallway, similar to the ones they had previously passed. He didn't sense any danger and there was nowhere to hide except the ceiling which was now covered in a dark mist, but he could see the top here and there at a thinner point.

Tsuna didn't say anything at first and pulled himself closer to the other. "But I'm with you right now, aren't I?"

"Tsuna, I'm not stupid, nowhere close to it," Reborn sneered, pausing a moment to look down at the demon. "I know you want to be with Takeshi, he's a close friend, right?"

"No, regardless of him being a close friend or not, I can see him anytime I like. It's not hard to search for him if I wanted to. And anyway, I'm your partner, right? I can't leave you on your own."

Reborn made a 'tch' sound. "I can protect myself."

"I know, but you're still a human. A single wound can kill you immediately," Tsuna smiled softly, closing his eyes for a moment as if thinking on something. "Your lives are so fragile."

The hunter didn't say anything to that and remained quiet, continuing onward. After twenty minutes down it, he finally spotted an end to the hallway, another door. Stepping towards it, he carefully opened it, searching for any enemies, before going in with Tsuna right next to him. This time the room was much larger, almost the size of a fourth of a football field, but it didn't matter much, nothing had changed from the previous room. 'More white, I'm starting to get sick of this color.'

In the distance, there was another door, just a single one, and they slowly made their way towards it. Reborn noticed that the mist above was darker in color and for a moment, he thought he had spotted something move within. But since Tsuna didn't react, so he ignored it.

Just as they reached the door, the atmosphere changed. Tsuna's eyes widened for a moment, going rigid as he sensed something, everything in his body going off. Peering up, his eyes rapidly searched out, only to sneer angrily. Reborn, being the only one to notice the questioning behavior, glanced over, his mouth just opening to question to find himself shoved to the side. The force sent him flying and landed onto the flat floor painfully, and skidded across the ground, his mind spinning. Parts of his skin that met the ground burned, feeling like his flesh was going to be ripped off, and once he got his bearing, snapped his head up. Reborn wanted to yell, however, he was silenced as a crushing sound flooded the room, echoing within his ears.

It was the sound of bones breaking, fleshing being torn apart, and blood spewing over everything that was within the area. It was a familiar noise that he detested, a noise he had heard many times on his fellow hunters, and it was something that meant terrible news to the receiver. His eyes widened as he watched some odd flat black blade, around twelve inches wide, slam through Tsuna's chest. The end came right out of the other side, the force of it picking the brunet off his feet to sending him flying back. Blood flew everywhere, splattering over the tiles in large fat droplets, and he watched as Tsuna spat some out from his mouth, dripping down his chin. Those normal cunning honey-colored eyes were wide in shock, filled with pain, and as he continued to fly back, those bangs fluttered in front, hiding them from Reborn's eyes.

Everything was in slow motion, Reborn just barely picking himself up, as the blade fly far enough to slam into the wall behind. The end dug in, going deep into the stones, and Tsuna's frail body met the back, limbs bouncing at the force. The sword continued to move, going a few inches within, before it stopped, letting the body slump over it lifelessly. Blood continued to fall down, forming a large pool underneath, dripping down Tsuna's entire body to where the boots were at. It came down the wall in a sickening form. Silence was all Reborn could hear, eyes wide in terror, hoping and praying that Tsuna would live from such an attack. But with that blade…it wasn't possible.

Quickly, Reborn got up, his eyes watching as that peach-skin began to pale from the blood loss and screamed. "TSUNA!"


	9. Mission 3: Part 3

The hunter didn't pay attention to anything, a ringing in his ears, and he rushed over to Tsuna's body almost immediately. He looked over it, but knew that an attack, a fatal wound like this, was impossible to recover from. Blood still continued to drip around the blade and he tensed up as he heard a footstep from behind. Spinning around, gun out, he pointed it towards his enemy that had suddenly appeared behind him, the one that had killed Tsuna before his eyes. He was met with a suit of armor, standing up twice his size, and he could hear the clanking of metal as it stepped closer, its pace heavy and slow. He momentarily wondered why he hadn't heard it before, it was too obvious to miss, before his eyes trailed up towards the mist above, perhaps that was the cause?

Glowing red eyes peered out from the hole at the top, the rest of the head in darkness and Reborn could easily make a guess that there was really nothing inside. Regardless, he fired at the eyes, but the bullet just went through them, hitting the inside of the metal helmet, and bounced around within until it stopped. Despite the bullet going in, nothing happened and the armor came closer as if nothing was wrong, the outward dents that had formed when the bullet had hit the surface pulled back in. The sun Arcobaleno fired off a couple more with the same results and stopped. Immediately, he changed the case, going for one of his special explosive bullets and fired a single one. It slammed right into the armor and exploded upon contact, sending the demon back a few feet, however, other than that, it left no marking.

'Shit! Just my luck! Of all demons to meet down here, it just had to be an armor-based one, damn their defenses.' Reborn peered back at Tsuna, wondering if the demon would suddenly get up and give him a hand with his little problem, and yet the brunet remained where he was at, eyes closed up, and unresponsive. Cursing to himself, he knew he had to act fast and get out of here before he ended up like the fallen demon himself. Taking in the calculation of the slow movement, he determined that he had about a minute before it reached him, it wasn't enough, but he could work with it.

Reborn tucked his gun away and turned to the brunet, reaching for the sword that still strapped the demon into place, grasping the end of it and pulled. He needed to get Tsuna out first before finding out what happened. After all, Tsuna was a demon, he wouldn't die from something like this…right? A moment of hesitation appeared in Reborn's eyes, almost stopping his movements. Could Tsuna have died? Was he doing all of this for a lost cause?

"My, it's only been less than a week since we've met and you're already this concern for me?"

The hunter snapped his head up towards the brunet, seeing nothing had changed, except…no, there _was_ something different. The lips, they were smirking now. "Tsuna," Slowly, those eyes fluttered open, looking a little dazed, yet they turned to him with a weak smile. The demon made a small grunt as the blade sunk further into his flesh, hands reaching up to grab the sword that was still inside him, and made some struggles to get it out. However, he couldn't and found it difficult to do so and grinded his teeth together out of frustration and pain. Reborn sneered, pulling at the other side to help loosen the blade out from the wall it had been impaled into. "Even when stabbed against a wall, you can still make snarky comments."

Tsuna smiled again though it looked strained. "Very funny, but seriously, you're attached to me."

"Is that a bad thing?" Reborn gave a grunt, his hands kept slipping from the handles, and the blood and sweat on them was making it harder to get a good grip. They had about thirty seconds left before the armored demon arrived at their spot and felt the sword just barely budging, pieces of the wall crumbling down. Tsuna was using what strength he could to help and cough slightly as the blade continued to tear through him, dropping more blood to the ever-growing pool.

"You're a…demon hunter. You kill beings like myself," Tsuna coughed again, the sword moving easier now that it had dislodged from its spot. There was only fifteen seconds left and the clanking of armor was drawing ever closer, well aware of the struggling the two companions were in. "You shouldn't get attached to one, much less save one."

"Shut up, will you?" Reborn sneered, just getting the blade to collapse out, bringing both Tsuna and the weapon to the ground, the latter clattering and bouncing from slamming into the floor. The demon made a couple more coughs as the blade finally was out of him after the rest being yanked out, blood spilling down his chin, and he reached down to touch the huge gaping wound in his body. He could feel his torn insides starting to slip out, his small intestines being one of them, and placed pressure in that area to prevent that from actually occurring. The hunter couldn't help but feel a little queasy at the sight, but ignored it, leaning down to wrap his arms around Tsuna's body, and stared into those honey-colored eyes. "I'm not leaving you behind, demon or not."

As he spoke those words, ignoring the widening of those eyes, he lifted Tsuna up in a bridal style, knowing fully well that the demon was far too weak to move at this current point of time, and jumped to the side just as a giant armored hand came down on his spot. The ground where he had once stood at crumbled below, cracks appearing on the surface, and he peered back with a growl, glaring at the damn monster before looking down at the weakened one in his arms.

"I thought you were all-powerful." The hunter smirked, racing off down the hallway, trying to get some distance between him and the armor.

Tsuna smiled, weakly reaching up to wrap his arms around Reborn's neck, pulling himself closer. His blood seeped into the, suit but neither cared at this moment since there were more important things to do like running, however, the wound was slowly healing, piecing itself back together from the insides first. "Ah, I am, but even I can feel weak from a massive blood loss. A human body holds an average about six quarts of blood, I just lost five and a half of my own. If I was human, I would have already died."

"You would have _died_ the moment that sword entered you," Reborn huffed, glad that the demon was light enough to carry, continuing to dash down the hallways. He could hear the echoing of that armor demon chasing after them and sneered. Escaping would be tough, he could only hope that Tsuna would heal fast enough to give him a hand. "Hey, what's our enemy this time?"

"It's a mist demon called Rustengan, low-class, it has a tendency to possess objects in order to physically attack. It's the only demon of its kind that can do that, mainly because it doesn't have a physical body to work with," The breathing was starting to get better and the grip on Reborn's body was much stronger than before. Tsuna was definitely healing up. "You need to attack the back, that's the weak spot. There should be a little gem there that appears whenever it possesses an object that if you can crack it, it should shatter the entire body. After that, the Rustengan will slip out and you'll need to use magic against it. It's weak against light and water magic."

Reborn grumbled under his breath, knowing that he didn't know any of those spells, but it didn't matter right now. He needed to get the both of them to safety in order to think of a strategy. Glancing down at the demon, he looked at the wound for a moment, trying to resist the thought of throwing up at the sight of the organs peeking through. He could still see through the gash, the floor right below, but at least it was no longer bleeding.

Tsuna suddenly reached up and pushed the hunter's head away. "Don't look, it'll just make you sick. Focus on the task on hand. I just need a few more minutes before I'm completely recovered and I should be able to help you."

"Good, I'm going to need you. My bullets are useless, they'd just deflect off," Reborn grumbled, dashing down hallway after hallway. He found so many rooms, some having doors that interconnected between more rooms. If anything, it was beginning to look like a maze of sorts and he wished he had taken the time to leave a trail to get back. He felt the grip on him weaken momentarily and took a peek at Tsuna, noticing the once white complexion was starting to gain some color but it wasn't working fast enough. It had already been about ten minutes. "Tsuna?"

The demon smiled weakly, coughing a few times, before replying. "It seems like…Vongola placed a protective spell over the place so that demons would not be able to recover as quickly during or after a battle. I had not foreseen such a thing, it is a terrible mistake on my part."

The human simply cursed, it seemed like everything was just against them today, and yet he didn't stop running, hurrying down the pathway without a second thought. He could still hear the footsteps of metal, but it was getting weaker, just the echoes now. That was a good sign, he told himself. It meant that the armor was getting further away. For a moment, he stopped to mark the wall, using Tsuna's blood to place a handprint on it. It was all he could use to make sure he wasn't running in circles before continuing again.

After another twenty minutes, the demon started squirming in the grasp, wanting nothing more than to get out and walk. But Tsuna knew better, he was still recovering and he doubted that his weaken body would be able to support him currently without collapsing. At least, half of the hole in him was gone, eyes unable to see through him anymore. "I think I should award you for what you did before we go any further." Tsuna smiled weakly, pressing himself further against the hunter.

Reborn gave a grunt, at least glad that he could no longer hear the thumping of metal, and paused for a bit to catch his breath and recover some badly needed energy after running for so long. His black eyes turned to the demon curiously with an eyebrow raised, not completely sure what the other meant. He was about to open his mouth to speak when Tsuna leaned over to push theirs together. Eyes widening in shock, surprised that the demon would do something like this here of all times, Reborn tried to resist. But Tsuna didn't relent in his grip, wrapping his arms around Reborn's neck to pull them in closer, and yet didn't move his tongue to attack the other.

The human found this questioning, it was odd that he hadn't been groped, harassed, or anything else during this entire process. Slowly, he let the surprise slip away and pushed forward, his tongue probing the bottom lip as if asking for entrance. And he was rewarded, which just surprised him further, and narrowed his eyebrows in confusion. This was too odd, Tsuna wasn't resisting at all. 'Well, might as well take advantage of this.'

Immediately, he slipped his tongue in, mapping the demon's inner cave, able to hear a soft moan in return. That alluring scent was back, not as strong, but he could still smell it and felt the body shifting around so that those thin legs could wrap tightly around his waist. Slowly, he pressed Tsuna and himself against a wall, using it as a helpful leverage to keep Tsuna up as his hands wandered the petite body squished between. His fingers went over the curves of the middle, enjoying the soft warm skin that was touchable, and let his hands wander behind to the ass to give a squeeze.

Tsuna made a chuckle at that, tilting his head slightly to the side to allow better access, letting Reborn take control of the setting. The human deserved it after taking the chance of ripping the sword out of him and running away with the enemy demon so close by, it was the least he could do. Reborn continued to pry around Tsuna's mouth, making that limp tongue work with him, and shivered when he heard the demon moan again. It was like music to his ears and it felt good. He pulled away to fill his depleted lungs with air and instead of going for another kiss, he went for the neck, nibbling along the tender flesh there instead. Those long fingers in his black hair gripped tighter in response and Reborn grinned evilly at that.

If the brunet was going to let him take control, then take control he will. He wasn't going to give up this little moment at all. Placing butterfly kisses up and down the neck, his lips slowly trailed down to the collarbone and made a small bite mark there, sucking on it painfully to see if he could leave a mark.

"My…" Tsuna started only to be cut off by Reborn going up for a kiss. The brunet's face was slightly flushed, softly moaning to the hunter's advancement, and then chuckled in amusement soon after.

They were so engulfed in their little session that they had forgotten about the demon that had been following right behind. A crash echoed in the hallway, a wall crumbling down not too far away, and both men looked up to see the demon armor stepping out of the rumble and dust. It paused as if getting its bearings together before turning towards the two companion's direction, continuing onward, unaffected by the scene before it.

"Must have decided that walking through the long hallways was a pain in the ass." The demon snickered at the hilarity, finding the situation funny, despite being pressed up against a wall with his legs wrapped around Reborn's waist.

"Must have," The hunter snorted at the sight, unable to hide the disappointment in his eyes, he had been enjoying himself, what a shame. "And instead thought that busting through walls was a better idea."

Slowly, Tsuna shifted his body, letting Reborn carry him bridal style to make things easier, and held onto the fedora to make sure it didn't fly off. He couldn't hide the smile on his expression and buried his face into Reborn's neck, enjoying the warmth. Soon, he was pulled away from the wall and felt himself being carried off down the hallway, peering up momentarily to watch the armor continue to move their way. Lifting up a hand, he yelled out a spell. "Spread!"

Almost immediately, a pool of water formed around the enemy demon and shot up, blasting at high speed. Reborn paused in his running to look back, trying to see a better view of the spell at its work. It wasn't often he got to see such things. The water from the spell after hitting the roof of the ceiling hard enough to make cracks at the top fell down, collapsing back onto the creature in a shard-like matter, and yet the armor remained, still walking through as if unaffected. Tsuna blinked, slightly irritated, and pulled back at Reborn.

"Well, that didn't work. Damn thing possessed a magic resistant armor, just my luck," Tsuna cursed and then started coughing, pressing himself against Reborn to keep himself still. The hunter began to run once more, though, there was concern in his eyes as he peered down at the demon, wondering what happened. "Ah, used magic while my body is still trying to recover, not exactly a smart idea."

"Then why did you try?"

"Wanted to give you a chance to get away or at least give you more time," The demon curled up against Reborn. "Sorry, I can't offer any more help. We'll need to make a plan to distract it long enough for you to get to the back."

At that, the hunter grinned in amusement. "You've done enough. For now, we'll just keep running around and wait for Takeshi to give us a hand or until you've regained enough strength to hold it off. Luckily for us both, the demon isn't very fast."

"Yeah." Tsuna closed his eyes, trying to concentrate on recovering but with the wound, massive blood loss, and being hindered by that protective barrier, it could take a while. Mentally, he called out to his old companion as he closed his eyes to lean further against Reborn. 'Hurry, Takeshi, hurry.'

* * *

Another couple of fingerprints came next, never once passing the same one until later. Reborn cursed as he saw it, knowing he had gone around in a circle, and because of that, the clicking of metal had gotten closer. Shifting again, he went a different way, hoping that he was going the right direction. Looking down at Tsuna, he grumbled, still able to see the wound clearly, though much better compared to before.

Eventually, they came up to a door that looked different compared to all the others they had seen before. This one was shaded in a black color, the doorknob silver, and it seemed it emitted some sort of smog around as if warning people. The two companions glanced at each other before Reborn made his way over, Tsuna opening the door since both of the hunter's hands were tied at the moment and peered inside carefully.

"What?" Reborn whispered as he stared at the object before him, a glowing ball that looked like it was made out of crystals, and it was hovering just above a pedestal. It would fly up and down just slightly, its white glow shining brightly despite how colorless the room already was. The smog seemed to be appearing from below, monochrome until it got far enough to turn a grayish tint. However, what he did notice that made him curse was that this was a dead end, there was no other room connecting the place.

A crash occurred behind him, alerting him immediately that the demon was still right behind and was moving closer to their spot, probably not yet aware of the dead-end they had faced. He knew that turning back now would lead them straight into the demon, no doubt about it. His dark eyes peered down at Tsuna, noticing the exhausted look the brunet held on his face, unable to hide his current weakness. Taking in all the factors, it wasn't looking good for them both.

Running towards the crystal ball, he laid Tsuna down, aware that the demon was looking at him curiously with his breathing weak, and pulled away. "Reborn," The incubus spoke, coughing slightly, and moved to sit up. "You need to destroy that, it's a crystal ball that draws in demons of all kinds and it seems to have been activated recently. I'm not sure if it'll work or not, but there's a chance that the Rustengan might no longer want to bother with us."

"And if it still comes after us?" Reborn glanced over, picking up the ball and held it carefully in his hands, the glow fading at his touch.

At that, Tsuna shook his head. He had no answer to that, he too was unsure of what could happen. Anything could really. Coughing again, he got himself standing up and stood in front of the hunter, like he was going to defend him, glaring at the door as he heard the clanking of metal getting closer. It would only be a matter of seconds before it arrived at their area.

Reborn growled, he didn't need protection, and slammed the ball to the ground to crack the device, the smog disappearing with it. It had been too simple, the device like glass, and shattered upon contact with the ground. Soon after, he pulled both his guns out that he held underneath his jacket and pointed one of them towards the door. He wasn't going to allow some demon beat him like this and so easily. "Hey, Tsuna."

"Yeah?"

"I want to do one last thing before we face off with our troublemaker."

Tsuna tilted his head back with a curious eyebrow raised. "You make it sound like you're about to die. Don't worry, I won't let you. If anything, I'll stay behind and fight and let you escape even if it means revealing myself to the rest of the building."

There was laughter and Reborn stepped forward with a smirk. "Who said anything about dying? I'm not going to die. I will live and that is final and you're not going to be some idiot who'll sacrifice oneself. Anyway, I want to get something before we do this battle and I'm not going to take a no for an answer." He got a confused expression from the brunet despite the amused grin that he was getting. Leaning over, he cupped Tsuna's face with the barrel of the gun, staring into those honey-colored eyes greedily, before moving closer. The demon didn't do anything, watching as his expression morphed into one of delight, and closed his eyes, feeling those warm lips just an inch away from his own. He could feel the warm breath tickling over his cheeks and just as they were about to connect, there was a crack.

This snapped their attention away from each and towards the front where the wall collapsed before them. The Rustengan had finally made its appearance, interrupting them for the second time. Tsuna grumbled underneath his breath and immediately got into an offensive position, hands out before him, and he closed his eyes for a moment before feeling his powers shift through his body, giving him that badly needed boost. Reborn watched from the side as Tsuna's hands became enflamed by an orange color, the flames burning brightly around the limb, never touching the arm warmers and the skin.

However, what caught him the most were the eyes when they reopened. They were a warm color of orange like flames burning brilliantly within the orbs. It was a beauty and it left him almost speechless at how those eyes drew him in, momentarily thinking that it looked familiar to Giotto's fighting form with those flames. Before he could question it any further, Tsuna dashed forward, slamming his right inflamed hand into the chest plate of the armor, denting it all the way out to the back. However, the Rustengan didn't remain still and strike back by bringing the large blade it had probably picked back up from where he had stabbed Tsuna down, slamming it into the ground below. Tsuna simply dodged to the side, swinging his body in a twist with such speed, before going for another attack, this time from the side, giving it another dent.

Reborn chuckled before running around, firing off explosive bullets, trying to make his way to the back. He caught the glitter of the jewel before he jumped back to dodge an arm flying his way, rolling across the ground to gain some distance. Tsuna immediately intervened to give a hand, blasting off fire magic from his hands, but it did little to affect the armor except giving the hunter a chance to move. The previous dents that Tsuna had made popped back out and the brunet quickly struck a couple more times to distract it. He dodged almost effortlessly around the blade, faulting here and there when the wound caught up to him, but made sure to use his small body to his advantage to get out just in time.

Then the hunter had a clear shot and took it without any hesitation. The jewel behind had an appearance of a ruby about the size of an US quarter, but it didn't matter how small it was, Reborn wasn't going to miss, pulling the trigger. There was a loud crack and the armor remained still for a moment, the two companions doing the same, and almost like a puppet, it collapsed into a pile of rubble. The metal clanked as it hit each other and Tsuna jumped back, the flames vanishing from his body and leaned against the pedestal to hold himself up, the exhaustion clearly evident on his expression and there was sweat dripping down his face, his breathing heavy.

Reborn was tempted to rush over, but stopped when he saw the glowing red eyes peering out from the rubble, glaring at him, and watched as a mist-like body floated up. It shifted back and forth like a cloth stuck on the wind and he could see right through the body, knowing that his bullets would go right through it.

"Aqua Laser!" At the sound of the spell, a beam of water shot out from Tsuna's location, hitting the enemy demon directly. Reborn watched as the Rustengan began to wiggle at the force, almost like it was screeching at being hit by its weakness, and vanished, dissipating. He sighed, it was finally over, and rushed over to the incubus' side to help keep him up. He chuckled at the expression and helped Tsuna onto the ground carefully, letting the demon lean against him.

"You alright?"

"Yeah, of course, just tired. That's all. Ugh…" Tsuna grumbled as he touched his wound, muttering words under his breath as he tried to use what little energy he had left from the water spell to help him recover faster. Once his body was fixed, he would be almost back to normal, it was just the matter of getting fixed. "Just let me rest for a bit."

"That's fine." Reborn let Tsuna lay down to rest and in the meantime, kicked the shards of crystal away and opened the door to the hallway to peer down it. There was nothing there, they were safe at this moment, and settled beside the brunet, once more offering a shoulder for the demon to lean against. His black eyes peered over the incubus, watching the heavy breathing as the chest rise and fall and sighed. He contemplated on an idea, one that sounded very stupid and ridiculous, and eventually sighed for a second time, pulling up his sleeve to his jacket and undershirt. Outstretching his uncovered arm, he gave a small grunt, his eyes turning away, and offered his limb, the intent obvious to the both of them. "Use it, I know you need the energy right now."

Tsuna stared at the offered flesh, tempted to actually go through and get the needed nourishment in his own, before pushing the arm away. "No, I'm afraid you'll be needing it more than me. We're not done yet."

"What do you mean?"

Tsuna didn't answer, no, he didn't need to. The hunter was about to demand the answer when suddenly he heard the wall behind him crack. Startled by the sound, Reborn took a few steps back after standing up, gun out and ready for use. The sound came again and again until the wall came crumbling to the ground and a shift in the air made Reborn jumping to the side to dodge a long throw of a weapon, a black blade similar to before, going right past him. He cursed, getting his bearing together instantly, and peered back again, letting the dust clear up, before his eyes widened in shock.

"Oh, shit…" The hunter cursed, this was beyond his skills, looking over the large group of demons gathering before his eyes, and took a step back. There was no way he could handle this many. His eyes went to Tsuna when the demon bumped into him, the brunet taking a defensive stance beside him. "What do you think?"

"If I was up in tip-top condition, this wouldn't be a problem. But I'm not. It would be best to retreat and see if we can meet up with Takeshi." Tsuna took a step back, bringing the other with him, when the multiple Rustengans began to come closer, some raising their own blades up to throw it as well like the previous demon. The hunter noticed that they were all wearing the same type of armor and wondered in the back of his mind where they had all come from. There was no way all these demons could slip inside of Vongola like this unnoticed.

Regardless, he couldn't think accurately at the moment and fired a few well aimed bullets at the arms, making the enemy demons drop the swords with a loud clatter. As they were about to turn around to run, a blast of water magic flew past them from behind slamming into the numerous enemies. The two companions felt the droplets splashing onto their bodies, drenching them entirely and washing off the blood that had been on them before. They could see the redness seeping down below their feet and yet neither of them was happy. They were now wet and tired, not a good combination. Soon after the spell went through, pushing all the Rustengans back, a man came flying by, fists flaming in orange with one similar on the forehead, crashing a fist first into one of the armors, sending it flying back into the crowd.

Reborn and Tsuna blinked in question and watched as a group of people began to filter into the room, Takeshi with the Vongola boss and his guardians. They turned to each other, blinking in question, and watched as the Nokk and Vongola Decimo came up to them to wonder about their condition and situation. The rest of the guardians were fighting off the rest of the demons, keeping that side occupied. Immediately the two snapped back, eyes narrowed dangerously, raising up a foot and kicked their respectful member in the head.

"You're late!"


	10. Mission 3: Part 4

Tsuna sighed, leaning back against the wall as he watched the rest of the group fight off the remaining demons, keeping a sharp eye out just in case, looking over the entire area. Reborn was standing next to him, firing his gun now and then when things got a little sticky towards the Vongola group, but other than that, he remained behind and far away from the conflict. They were both too tired to try and bother at this point of time, leaving the demons to Vongola and Takeshi.

The Nokk, Reborn admit, was more useful in battle compared to the humans. Wielding a katana in hand, Takeshi weaved around the armored demons like a ghost, striking down five or six of them at once at the back towards the ruby jewels before casting powerful water magic over the area to kill off those mist-like demons. He then spun around to go for the rest, cutting them down with ease and accurate attacks. He was effectively slaughtering them, working quickly and faster than a normal human eye could keep up.

"He normally uses two blades…" Tsuna muttered to the side, leaning over onto Reborn to close his eyes. He had full belief that his friend would take care of everything with no trouble. "That's just when he's really serious though, but for this type of battle, it makes it easier to cast magic if one hand is free for movement."

The hunter continued to watch, knowing that those actions were graceful, carefully placed, and registered each and every step the Rustengans made too. Takeshi had no problem even when surrounded compared to the Vongola members on the other side of the field. Giotto and his guardians were struggling with the overwhelming numbers, hardly moving fast enough to get around to the back. Though, compared to most of them, Alaude was doing most of the killing on the armors, leaving the mist-like forms to the rest since he knew he couldn't use water or light magic. "He's powerful on his own, that's to be expected since he's a demon, but he's completely overwhelming the Rustengans."

"Remember, the Rustengans are a low-class demon, they just got a powerful boost since they managed to possess magic-resistant armor, but they are still low-class. Takeshi and myself are high-class demons, we're on a whole other level. I just happened to get weakened at the worst possible timing." Tsuna grumbled, nudging closer against the human, enjoying the warmth it brought. He could smell the blood within those arteries and veins and he was so tempted to take bite in order to regain his strength, but with those other humans too close by, it was too risky to take. He could be found out instantly.

Reborn didn't say anything to that, watching the battle carefully with a sharp eye, and made a quick pull on the trigger when one of the Rustengans were sneaking up behind Giotto's back. It distracted the demon long enough for the blonde to become aware of the extra presence, made a quick nod at the hunter as thanks, before dashing around to destroy the jewel.

During the middle of it, when the demons started to go down, mostly on Takeshi's side, the Nokk slipped over the two companions and went over to Tsuna immediately, eyes trained over the form carefully. He reached over and tapped the incubus here and there and touched the barely closed wound carefully. "How badly injured are you?"

"Mostly healed physically, just need some badly needed rest and nourishment." Tsuna sighed heavily, closing his eyes for a moment, but despite that, he was looking much better than before. He was able to stand a lot easier and had a more healthy appearance in his skin color and was breathing freely.

Despite that, the black-haired demon couldn't hide the worry shining in his eyes and reached into his pockets to pull out a small glass bottle, about an adult finger's length. There was thin green liquid swishing around on the side, about three quarters full, and he pushed it over, forcing Tsuna to take it. "Here, it's a crushed Lymdas plant, drink it."

"Wait, you should be keeping that," Tsuna muttered, trying to push it back, hiding his expression of disgust at it, but Takeshi shook his head rapidly and gave another shove forcefully. Sighing in defeat, he pulled the cap off and stared at the liquid inside with some hesitation, still not want to bring it up anywhere close to his lips. Reborn raised an eyebrow at Tsuna's change of expression, finding it almost funny considering how the demon normally acted. Eventually, the demon swallowed the liquid whole like it was a shot, wincing slightly as it went down his throat, almost looking like he was going to gag at the terrible taste. Coughing, he shoved the empty bottle back to the Nokkin the stomach hard enough to make his friend almost fall back and grimaced to himself as the stuff tried to come back up. "Oh god, I hate that stuff."

"Can't be helped though. It's potent enough to make our healing capabilities move quicker." Takeshi smiled nervously, knowing the truth to that medication, and patted Tsuna on the back gently, trying to help the incubus not throw up all over the floor. He turned to the hunter, knowing the human was probably confused about the whole thing, and passed the empty bottle that had some remainder of the medication within.

Reborn took it carefully and peered inside it curiously before placing a finger at the rim to touch some of the liquid. It stained his fingers easily and brought it up to his lips, licking it, and immediately cringed. The hunter could understand why Tsuna had refused at the beginning, it was _horrible_.

Takeshi laughed gently at the sight, rubbing the back of his head with one hand, while keeping the other on Tsuna. "It's pretty bad, huh?"

The hunter glared. "It tastes like shit."

The Nokk sighed, taking the bottle back, and capped it before placing it into the pocket. "The Lymdas plant is from the lower levels of Hell, it's one of the best plants to use for healing and recovering strength, but it just tastes terrible no matter how much you try to flavor it. It's good to keep one on hand though for emergencies." He reached over and continued to rub Tsuna's back, offering comfort now that the gagging reflex has finally stopped.

"We higher-up demons don't normally get this weakened by anything," Tsuna grumbled, the taste finally starting to die away, and leaned against the wall. The color seemed to get darker on him and the strength was finally coming back to his body, he was recovering quickly. "Takeshi, go help the humans. They're still struggling."

The Nokk peered at the group and nodded his head, rushing off to lend a hand, leaving the two contracted companions on their own. Tsuna once more shifted closer to Reborn and leaned against the human, nudging into that warmth happily. The hunter didn't mind and watched the water demon work in ridding the rest of the demons with ease, combining his moves with Vongola's.

When the fight ended and all the demons had finally fallen, Reborn found himself relaxing at long last and peered down at Tsuna for a confirmation. The demon nodded in return, muttering that he couldn't sense anymore demons within the area except for himself and Takeshi. The Rustengans were now vanishing from the leftover water magic, the ground covered in the liquid and it sizzled on the floor for a few moments before evaporating. Though Reborn wouldn't show it, he was glad that everyone had come in at the right time to prevent anymore causalities and peered down at Tsuna again, who was covered in blood despite having most of it washed off. It was quite sickening, but at least the brunet was alright now and that grasp on his arm was much stronger than before.

"How do you feel now?"

Tsuna sighed at that, looking up at Reborn to convey some message he had hidden in his eyes. "Hungry, really hungry, but I'll be fine."

"Hungry? Oh…" Reborn couldn't help but rub the back of his head, knowing what the brunet had meant. He pulled his fedora down to cover his eyes and then sighed, looking around the area to observe. He examined the group carefully, noticing they were checking over everything to ensure that all the demons in the area were defeated. Some went into the hole the Rustengans had come out of to check as well. Seeing as they were distracted, he rotated Tsuna and pulled up his sleeve to offer his arm once more like before and once again, he was stopped. "Tsuna, you need something in you, right?"

"Yes, I do, but-"

"It's fine, take it. No one is watching right now and the fight is already over." Reborn fought back, putting Tsuna's condition above his own. He watched as Tsuna let out a breath of air dejectedly, finally giving into his hunger and the request, and stepped in front of the hunter, looking at him with famished eyes.

"Sorry." Before Reborn could question what the other had meant, Tsuna had struck, yanking the hunter down onto the floor in a sitting position and instead of going for the arm, he sank his teeth into the human's neck. Containing in both the surprised and pained cry as the teeth broke through his skin, he felt Tsuna push his body against the wall painfully and could almost feel the desperation in the movement. 'He must have been starving…' Reborn thought to himself as he looked over the demon, feeling Tsuna's body pressing up against his own tightly, wrapping one arm around his shoulder to help position his neck and the other on his waist. Those thin legs and hip were straddling him, purposefully grinding their groins together for a better effect, and Reborn gasped at the sensation, accidentally nudging his hips upward to meet that friction.

Ah, it felt great, he admitted to himself, wanting more but with his strong will, refused to give into the pleasure. Still, he couldn't stop himself from desiring and falling into the sensations. Tsuna bent the neck further back for better access, sinking his teeth deeper into that jugular vein, and Reborn could feel the warmth breath tickling his skin as he was drained, the weakness starting to set in.

"Ah…" Letting out a small moan as he felt that addictive pleasure coursed through his body, relishing in the sensation as his mind began to feel hazy, he pulled the brunet closer onto his lap to grind their bodies while holding the demon against him tightly to prevent any movements from the other, feeling his mind slowly sinking away. His body was throbbing at the pleasure, enjoying it immensely, and so desperately wanting more. He hadn't had the chance to get rid of his pent-up sexual frustration and damn was it coming back to haunt him. His body was falling faster into the pleasure this time and Reborn couldn't help but notice the difference between when it had been in his arm. The attack at his neck wasn't as numbing and was _so_ much stronger.

It only lasted for a minute, though Reborn thought it had been longer, and Tsuna pulled back with a satisfied sigh, licking his lips greedily to ensure there was no blood remaining on his mouth. The demon's eyes were now orange and Reborn found himself staring into them like he was in some sort of trance, watching as Tsuna leaned over to drag his tongue over the neck to heal the wound he had created. The warm appendage was warm to touch, sliding over the flesh so slowly, sending shivers down Reborn's spine, and he almost let out another moan at it. The hunter leaned against the demon, feeling weak and breathless, trying to fill his lungs to catch himself, and calm his aching body. To anyone that saw them, if anyone was paying attention, it looked like they were simply holding each other closely.

"You alright?" Tsuna questioned after a few moments, his skin color and strength returning to normal now that he had pleased his hunger and his eyes were back to that brown hue. "I made sure not to take too much, about one and half quart so that you can still look normal, just pale."

"Feel lightheaded," Reborn grumbled, referring to the spinning world and closed his eyes to get his bearing back together. Shifting his body, he placed a hand on the chest, able to feel the beating of his heart under his fingers, and exhaled heavily. "Give me a moment to let my body adjust to the blood lost."

"No problem."

Takeshi stepped by, separating away from the humans as they finished checking over things, and peered over the two. He quickly realized what happened upon looking at them and kneeled down, patting Reborn on the shoulder. "Feeling drained?"

"No, I'm just peachy." Reborn growled sarcastically, closing his eyes again to rest, somewhat enjoying the warmth Tsuna's body gave him. The hunter was tired, he wanted nothing more than to pass out on a bed or couch, it didn't matter where at this point, and sleep for a good number of hours until he felt like getting up. Today was just too exhausting for him to keep up without suffering consequences later on and with Tsuna draining his body…Reborn sighed again. Slowly, he opened his eyes and pulled away from the grasp, managing to get up and stretch, feeling dizzy for a moment before his vision began to clear up. "I want to get some rest soon, I'm exhausted."

"You will in a moment." Tsuna stood up to remain at Reborn's side and peered towards Giotto, who was just moving towards the three. The blonde examined them from top to bottom, checking for injuries momentarily, before pausing at Tsuna with an eyebrow raised. Blood was splatter all over, but he didn't see any wounds that belong to it, however, there was a long torn part to the clothes like a blade had cut into it. How suspicious. The brunet gave a mutter of demon's blood, using it as an excuse to get away, and the Vongola boss simply nodded, he didn't sense any lying in those words.

"Well, it seems like the demons are starting to run away and those remaining are being taken care of. We're currently trying to scatter them and chase them out instead of killing them due to the curse. We'd like to keep the causalities down."

"Because Oberon would get pissed off and throw a fit." Tsuna grumbled, cracking his neck to bring some feeling on his body.

"Oberon?" Giotto questioned.

"Fairy King, killing his creatures of light results in a curse. So just chase the remaining demons out to prevent it from occurring," Tsuna yawned and began to step away, tugging Reborn along with him. "Hey, Reborn and I are going to get some rest, we'll deal with any talking or meeting or whatever afterwards. It's been a long day and there's no way we can continue functioning like this before one or both of us collapse."

Giotto nodded to that, letting the two companions that were still drenched in blood and both looking pale in color to leave. They both needed, by appearance, a good bath and plenty of rest before neither of them would want to do any talking. He turned to G with a serious look. "G, could you show them to a guest room? And before you say anything, we'll be meeting up early in the morning. In the meantime, we'll investigate this area and let them rest."

"Understood."

"And you are?" Giotto turned to Takeshi with curious but suspicious eyes, examining the suited demon oddly. He didn't recognize the man despite the slight similarities to his rain guardian, but it was barely there if one looked close enough. Not only that, the aura was different than that of his rain guardian and alerted him further that the person before him wasn't normal. This man had just suddenly appeared out of nowhere to join into the battle, sending out water magic ahead of them before they could react.

Tsuna sighed, knowing he had better intervene before someone revealed or found out about the Nokk. "He's actually with me, his name is Takeshi. I called him earlier since he's more profound in water magic then I am when I found out what kind of demons they were, they are Rustengans."

The Nokk grinned, stepping closer to the incubus with a laugh, and wrapped an arm around him. "Hey, if everything is done now, can I head back? I should go and visit Hayato before he starts screaming and tearing down the entire place for me," Takeshi smirked, bringing his friend closer so he could get a better look at Reborn. "It was nice seeing you again and you too, Reborn. Perhaps when we're all free or if you need an extra hand, call me. It's been so long since I've had some fun!"

"No problem, Takeshi, take care," Tsuna nodded as Reborn offered a word of thanks, watching as the Nokk, ran down the hallway to quickly escape before any of the Vongola members realized. The incubus turned to his companion and continued along, G complaining in the background about the escaped man. "Come on, let's get out of here. I would like a nice shower, I bet you do, too."

"Of course."

* * *

Reborn sighed, dragging a hand through his hair while feeling the hot water run over his entire body as he lied down on the bathtub. It felt good and so clean. The blood was all washed off, just his flesh against hot water that turned his skin a little pink. Still, it was perfect and just right. He was almost unaware of the movement behind the curtains, opening his eyes slightly to see Tsuna's shadow move across and then stop at his face.

The curtain was pulled back slightly, the brunet's head popping in. "I cleaned your clothes, but I suggest just wearing your pants to bed for now."

"Alright, thanks," Reborn muttered tiredly and wanted to turn away when he noticed the curtains being pulled further open. He was almost unaware that the demon was naked, but when he did, he couldn't help but stare. His black eyes trailed down the open flesh, the vest not there and neither were the arm warmers, giving him nothing but skin. He couldn't see past the hips since the top of the tub was in the way but that tail was there, wiggling around behind. "What?"

Tsuna didn't say anything and instead shifted around, jumping into the tub with Reborn, a wild smirk on his lips. The hunter startled himself awake, backing away when he found himself cornered by the demon, and in the bathroom of all places. The incubus was on all fours above him, blocking the warm water from hitting him, but he didn't care, he was looking into those orange eyes.

"What are you up to?" Reborn questioned, watching as Tsuna lay down on top of his body, flesh against flesh, and grunted slightly when he felt a leg against his crotch. It wasn't hard to figure out what the other was up to. "Don't you dare…"

Tsuna simply smirked and leaned forward to press their lips together, tilting his head to the side for better access. Normally, Reborn would resist, and he did for a few moments before giving right in, closing his eyes to return the gesture. His hands reached out, grasping those wet caramel-colored locks, gripping for leverage to deepen the kiss. Both moaned softly as tongue touched tongue, twisting and turning just right to bring more pleasure into their bodies.

"Tsuna…" Reborn whispered under his breath when they broke apart, staring at each other momentarily. Those lips…he wanted them again.

"You know, if you don't resist, I'll definitely try to go all the way with you." The brunet smiled, leaning over to kiss along the neck, trailing up and down before stopping at a spot on the shoulder to suck.

Reborn moaned softly, bending his head back to stare at the ceiling, feeling that leg rub up against him just right. He wanted to scream in frustration, to just let everything happen and get it done and over with. But his consciousness knew better, his mind knew better, and so he resisted at the last moment, pushing Tsuna away. Without saying a thing, he stepped out of the shower after pulling himself up and away.

"Reborn?" The brunet crawled out in concern and stepped around the human, still fully nude, his eyes looking into the black ones. "You alright?"

"Just…really tired." The hunter admitted, running his hand through the hair again to bring the bangs back.

Tsuna chuckled and draped a towel over the human gently, giving Reborn a chance to dry off. "Get some rest then, some _real_ rest. You don't need to keep yourself half-awake, I'll keep an eye out for you tonight, like always," He handed the pants over after the hunter had finished, leaving the shower on that he could hop right back into the water to wash off the remaining blood. Thinking for a moment, he jumped up to kiss a cheek, chuckling in amusement when Reborn blinked at that. "Goodnight."

The hunter was pushed out the door and peered back inquisitively. 'Did Tsuna really kiss me…for real?'


	11. Mission 3: Part 5

" _So you've decided…"_

" _Yeah, sorry. But I want to do this, I think I'm the only one that is willing to do this." Tsuna smiled softly, turning away from the person behind him, the atmosphere around him darkened, probably because he knew that this was a memory, a memory he hadn't had for a long time._

" _You'll never be accepted back up here, you'll never regain your current post, you'll become everything we hate."_

" _Don't say that, that's not true. I can still be myself despite the change. I will protect the people I care about my own way. But sadly, no one agrees with my wishes or my point of view, that's why I want to leave. I feel too restricted here, too demanded and held down, I want to be free and do what I want to protect everyone I care about my own way without having to follow some stupid rules."_

_The person behind chuckled, stepping closer. Tsuna could hear the fluttering of wings and could feel the warmth of the sun despite seeing only darkness. "There's just no getting to you. But that's fine, you've always been like that. It's something I've always admire about you. Now, please don't go tripping somewhere and getting yourself killed."_

" _H-Hey! I don't trip anymore!"_

" _Yes, you do and you still do. And you're also stuttering."_

" _That's because you're making me!"_

* * *

Reborn twitched, rolling over in bed when he suddenly felt the fingers gripping onto his shirt suddenly tighten around his chest, digging into his cloth and then into his skin. Luckily, it wasn't hard enough to tear into him, but regardless, the pressure made him awaken momentarily by habit and peered down to look at a sleeping Tsuna, whose eyebrows were narrowed as if dreaming. The brunet was wrapped tightly around him as if he was a pillow, looking like he was going to start muttering things at any moment, and twitched for a second in frustration. Those fingers loosened temporarily before tightening up again, Tsuna letting out a small grunt and drew his body closer for warmth.

'Must be dreaming…' The hunter gave a small grumble when he felt those arms tightening some more around him, the pressure almost getting to the unbearable stage. Rolling around so he could face the demon easier, he peered down at the sleeping expression, pushing back a few strands of hair to get a better look, and cupped a cheek gently. His touch, his fingers moving over the soft fleshly skin, made Tsuna twitch, nudging closer to him like a cat, almost looking like he was about to purr.

Reborn couldn't help but chuckle in amusement, able to see that demonic tail underneath the covers moving around, and yet even with his touches, Tsuna didn't wake up. He let his fingers map out those soft cheeks, the young face that had some baby fat in it, and those soft silk-like strands of hair. Ah, the hair, it was wonderful, soft like feathers, and that scent of shampoo was still fresh from that night, almost making his nose twitch. Shifting around, his fingers went to the back and made some circling movements along the spinal cord and almost immediately, the demon began to relax at his touches, the strength of his grip weakening. The incubus arched his back to move closer, one knee rising up in-between Reborn's, and that tail eventually slipped over, wrapping around the hunter's waist.

"Tsuna…" Reborn muttered, still continuing the movements on the back until he saw those soft honey-colored eyes opening up to peer at him curiously. The human couldn't read the emotions in the eyes, it was too fleeting, too quick, and then there was realization as the brunet found out that he was no longer dreaming and was now in reality. Tsuna blinked for a few moments before nudging closer, hoping to act like nothing happened, but Reborn noticed. He had been around the other long enough to figure out certain actions, not all, but some and this was one of them. "Were you having a nightmare?"

"More like a very old memory," The brunet admitted softly, peering up into Reborn's black eyes, and didn't remove himself away, the warmth shared between the two bodies comfortable. "It's been a while since I've remembered it."

The hunter hummed to himself, not bothering to push himself aside, knowing that the rest of the world was fast asleep except for a few Vongola members that were wandering the hallways either to clean up some things or for protection. He could hear the footsteps going up and down the pathways, but he ignored them as long as those sounds kept moving and didn't stop in front of his door. "Since you said it's an old memory, that reminds me, just how old are you?"

Tsuna chuckled at that, closing his eyes like he was about to go to sleep. "That, I won't say. Just think I'm extremely old and go with that. You wouldn't believe me even if I told you."

"That doesn't answer much."

"Of course not."

"Another question."

Tsuna opened his eyes momentarily, deciding to go along with Reborn's persistence. "Hmm?"

"You used a similar skill to Giotto's, the flames on the hands, I recognized it right away," Reborn lifted up a hand to push a few of his black-colored bangs aside to see better, stopping at his curl to twist it around his finger. "It's a unique skill only he has that's been transferred through his side of the bloodline only. It was used by a previous head of Vongola, the Primo, who is his great, great, great grandfather. I've had some suspicions with you. Why are you able to use something like that? And I saw you gazing at the portrait of Primo with a smile, you can't hide that from me."

Tsuna chuckled at that, Reborn was sharp, he had to give the human that. "I guess I could answer that, shouldn't hurt, but this information remains between us, got it?" The hunter gave a nod in agreement, like hell he was going to tell anyone, it just meant he was the better informed about the truth of matters. "The truth is that I met Stella Cielo, or Vongola Primo, as everyone calls him nowadays, a long time ago. He was merely a child at that time and his father, a demon, used to be a friend of mine. When he heard that he had gotten into some trouble, I went to help, however...I was far too late."

_Blood…Organs…Tsuna peered up and could see broken and torn flesh of a woman hanging off the walls, a face twisted in fear and agony._

"Because he had no family relative, he was placed into an orphanage and I would visit him now and then to keep him company since at that time, I had nothing better to do. Trust me, when you get as old as me, anything that can keep you occupied for a good number of years is better than nothing. Anyway, he was half-demon so that heritage was still there, uncontrolled, and I ended up teaching him that skill to help control those flames of his. Eventually, he created Vongola, a group of people that worked along with demons to help protect the humans of this world, and I became one of those demons that helped along. Stella eventually got his hands on the Vongola rings and officially declared the name of his group to the rest of the world. We got along quite well back then, everything was much more peaceful, demons were more friendly and coexisted to an extent with the humans, but that slowly changed when it went into Secondo's hands, who was Primo's cousin on the human mother's side."

"That human didn't like demons, no, he hated them, despised them. And we demons ran away and went into hiding. Secondo believed that all demons were evil, even the good ones like the fairies that helped the humans. He wanted us all dead and Vongola followed along, killing off all those around. I too vanished. Luckily, the only person that I taught some of my skills was Primo and he never passed it on to someone else, always saying he could never find anyone worth it. Sadly, Primo's views became conflicted with Secondo's and he was to be executed for being a supposed traitor to mankind. Myself and a couple other demons helped him escape from Vongola in Italy to Japan. It wasn't a great time after Primo's reign ended."

Reborn remained quiet, listening carefully. He hadn't known about that, about the history of Vongola besides the basics, it hadn't been worth the effort to find out. "I remembered reading that Giotto is a descendent from Primo that came from Japan, I take it would be unsurprising if he passed the skills he knew along the way. Giotto is the only one that can use flames like that, unlike the other Vongola bosses who either didn't have them or were so weakened that they needed extra port to convert them."

"That's correct. Later, I visited Stella about fifty years later to see his child using the same abilities, the flames he was bearing was pure and untainted, but I didn't interfere and left soon after."

Reborn pulled away from the brunet to stare up at the ceiling and sighed, placing an arm over his head in frustration. That was far too much information to take in, stuff that was probably buried deep within the books of Vongola's true history - if they haven't been burned yet. To think the incubus had been around that time, just how much information did Tsuna hold in his memories?

He turned to the brunet curiously, searching within those eyes for anything else, and sighed again, recognizing that look on that soft face from other humans. Tsuna wasn't going to say anything else, he was dwelling in memories that were too old and unwanted, memories that brought back things that he didn't want to remember anymore. Was that the issue with immortals? For demons that had been living for far too long, they knew things that normal humans would never understand or remember over the course of history, things that may have been diluted by false writing or have simply become forgotten.

Reborn felt Tsuna nudge back against him and smelled that wonderful alluring scent, that strawberry aura that made him want to do things with the demon, but resisted. He wouldn't allow his desires to take over, not after today, and huffed, closing his eyes, wanting to head back to sleep.

It was going to be a long day tomorrow. He could already tell that Giotto was suspicious about Tsuna's true identity and his capabilities. What a pain.

* * *

"I see you two are looking better in spirits today." Giotto chuckled, watching as Reborn and Tsuna stepped into the dining room for breakfast. The room was much smaller compared to the ballroom with a table containing a max of fifty chairs. The Vongola Decimo and his guardians were at the front, just barely receiving their breakfast from the cooks. There were some other hunters in the room, but very few in number compared to yesterday, many looking angry at finding out the mission was now complete and over and it was all because of Reborn and his companion. There were some jealously-filled stares towards the two and some that were staring at Tsuna as if he was a bag of meat. The demon simply upturned his head at them, completely disregarding the latter.

The two contracted companions didn't say much and settled into the chairs, slightly away from everyone else, and ate their breakfast quietly. Tsuna not so much since he didn't require human food, but tried regardless to keep the attention off of him, cutting into his eggs to make them easier to stuff down his throat. Eventually, when no one was looking, he nudged his food over to Reborn, who quickly devoured it from hunger.

As everyone started to finish up their breakfast, they remained quiet, and turned to the front to hear about the end results of this mission.

"Now then, let's get onto topic. Those armored demons, Rustengans, as you called them," Giotto turned to Tsuna to get a nod of confirmation. "We've never seen these sort of demons before, much less find anything about them in our books."

"That's because they are not armored demons," Tsuna interrupted, arms folded against his chest in frustration. "They are mist demons that took possession of the armor that was hanging around. However, there shouldn't be that many around and I think the bigger question is why there were so many anti-magic armors down there in the first place."

Alaude decided to step in, placing down some papers that everyone suspected to be reports. The documents were lined with layers of words and some had pictures attached, clipped on at the top. "My group and I investigated the rooms and the armor thoroughly. However, we've managed to come to a conclusion that someone had placed them there, purposefully I'm afraid, and even used a device to attract the demons to Vongola. The secret passage way had been opened numerous times in one area where it happens to lead outside, allowing access for someone to come in and out without anyone seeing. This also allowed the demons to come in without notice. Also, the armors came from the weaponry room and they had been snuck inside, very slowly over a period of time and was unnoticed by the guards. Not only that, the barriers that were supposed to stop demons from coming in suddenly stopped sometime during the day, allowing a large number of them to infiltrate into the manor. Luckily, there were no causalities in the process."

"From what we managed to gather," Giotto cut in to speak. "The demons were somewhat forced to come here, without a choice as well. In this battlefield, we humans are currently in the wrong since the demons weren't coming here for a fight." His voice echoed within the room, many people sighing at that, and others agreeing. Tsuna seemed to perk up at that slightly, a little surprised to hear those words, and turned to Reborn for a moment. Had the humans really claimed they were in the wrong? "However, in trying to find the culprit that did such a thing, we have ended up empty-handed. We were unable to find the person that could move such a large amount of armors, enough to start a war with Vongola within. It is far too obvious that all of this had been planned out carefully until this day. We were just lucky that Reborn and his companion had been quick enough to figure out what was happening and stop the plan before it began too late."

Reborn decided to jump in, tilting his fedora downward slightly, and folded his arms. "That means you have a traitor within Vongola."

A silence settled in the room and the group looked among each other, hoping that the traitor wasn't in the room, listening to them. Giotto sighed, shoulders slumping downward almost in defeat. He had hoped that that wasn't true, but then again, it wasn't unusual. He could only hope that this traitor would remain quiet and not raise any more problems in the future though his intuition made him doubted that. The blonde just hoped that it wasn't any of his closest friends.

* * *

"Reborn, Tsuna, you have my thanks," Giotto smiled gently, shaking both people's hands firmly without any hesitation. The rest of the group was off on their own, talking to other hunters or among each other. "You really helped us solve this case. Though we weren't able to find the traitor, I appreciate what you've done for Vongola. As per agreement, I can give you the reward, both the money and the book. G, please give it to them."

The redhead, _pink_ , Reborn would continue to argue, came close, holding the tome up to hand over. Tsuna, of course, was the one to receive it, carrying the old dust-covered book in his hands with alacrity. The appearance of the tome looked like some of those school textbooks, but this one only had around a hundred pages with a black hardcover written in demonic language, parts of it torn apart from age. The brunet read over the front cover and then flipped it open, blowing a breath to get some of the dust that had gotten inside to fly away. His eyes stared reading over the words quickly on the cracked yellow pages, barely listening to the conversation that was going on in the background, and chuckled to himself in amusement. 'Well, what do you know…'

"What is it, Tsuna?" Reborn questioned when he heard that snicker, an eyebrow raised in question. "Did you find something interesting in the tome?"

"Something like that," The brunet closed the book and tugged at the hunter, leaning up to whisper into the ear so no one else could hear. "I'll let you know in the car."

The human huffed, shaking his head, and pulled away, turning his attention back to his boss. He was interested in what Tsuna had been reading, it wasn't often he got to find out directly what was inside a tome without it being by the word of the mouth. His curiosity of what could be inside was starting to get him a little on edge. "Since everything seems to be done and over with, I'll be taking my leave. Just transfer half the amount to the usual account, I don't need all that money when I'm already earning enough from other missions. Use that money for the victims' families, they'll probably be needing it more than I do."

Giotto wanted to argue back, but Reborn didn't give the blonde a chance to speak when he started making his way out, Tsuna following right behind, still carrying the book in his hands. No one spoke after that, the doors closing right behind, and the two companions found themselves in the car, driving off back home. It was quiet as they drove around the Vongola's confines before getting out the gates to head into the paved roads that would bring them back to a city.

After a few moments, Reborn finally spoke up, questioning what Tsuna had meant before in the room. The brunet simply smirked, reopening the book, and positioned it comfortably on his lap. "It's a magic tome, it's been a while since I've seen one though," He flipped through a few pages quickly, glancing in-between, and went to the back. "Funny that I know who wrote this, but the demon is dead so it doesn't matter anymore, and I already know the magic within it, but it should be helpful to you. Anyway, it's a book for ice magic, its like a beginner's book."

"Beginner's?" Reborn questioned, he didn't know much on magic and had learned the current spells he knew through someone else, a previous trainer he had, but it had only lasted so long before the magic user died to old age.

"To sum things up, their just basic and easy spells you humans can work with. Anything higher than that can really harm their bodies unless they had some training. Tell me, what magic do you know about?"

The hunter seemed hesitant to let the other know, but gave in. "I know fire and wind spells mostly."

"Alright, then I'll help you with this. I can translate the meanings to you so you know how to use it. Knowing your skills and quick adaptation abilities, you'll learn the ice spells pretty fast while anything higher up, you'll just need your body to adjust to the spell drainage it can cause on you," Reborn nodded to that, following along as he continued driving down the street, watching out for other cars along the way. Tsuna hummed to himself, flipping through random pages. "And since you have time before your next mission, we'll take that time for you to learn these and you can try them out on the next demon you fight against. It's easier to figure out which ones to use during a combat since each spell reacts differently on the setting."

Reborn smirked, glancing over the demon for a moment, and then nodded. Though he didn't appreciate becoming a student again, much less learning from a demon, he doubted it would be so bad. It would just mean he would become more powerful than before. 'Well, I'm never too old to learn some new tricks. Maybe I can use these spells against Colonello the next time I met him,' Smirking, he turned the wheel to go right, heading onto the highway. 'Oh, yes, that sounds like a great idea.'


	12. Mission 4

Music flooded the ballroom, its orchestra on full blast with its sound traveling everywhere in the massive room. Gold shone off of everything from within the area and a large crystal chandelier was hanging from the top, its beads reflecting the light from all around. Paintings were hung up at the sides with some statues here and there, everything expensive and fancy-looking. A large amount of people were in the center of the ballroom, dancing to the music, and twirled around every now and then to the beat. Others that weren't dancing were at the sides, chattering with each other or watching the dancers on the field.

Servers carrying from trays of drinks to small pieces of food wandered the room, going from person to person. Some were collecting empty plates and glasses onto their trays while others were doing a quick safety sweep of the area for security. A couple of tables against the walls were layered with all sorts of food, mostly small things that would be easy to carry around in a plate and didn't require a fork. Drinks ranging from vodka to rum were arranged on another table, some in the bottles, and others in glasses.

Reborn was sipping quietly on a glass of champagne, his dark eyes peering out into the field, and watched everyone that was in sight. He wasn't dressed in his usual outfit and instead was wearing a white tuxedo that matched every male in the room. It was uncomfortable, but he made do for the event. Everything he wore was white from top to bottom and he even had to forgo his signature fedora in order to match. That left his black hair to spike up freely from its confines, no longer contained by his hat. His curls bounced slightly as he tilted his head up to swig the rest of his drink.

As a server came by, he exchanged his empty glass for a full one, continuing to use the wall as a cushion. It was more comfortable this way and he had a better view of everyone in the room. The music continued to play in the background, ending their current song before starting another one soon after, and people continued to party along.

A few women came by to ask him to dance, but he politely refused each and every one of them quickly, not interested in getting away from his spot. The females of the ball were the only ones that were allowed to have color on their clothes, donned in brilliant dresses that revealed their bosoms with the long ends trailing on the ground. Others were wearing something similar, but were shorter in length or were skinny dresses with a slit at the side. Most had designs ranging from flowers to circles and some had frills covering from top to bottom, there were layers upon layers on the dresses, almost to a ridiculous amount.

To Reborn, most of the clothes looked like they had been overdone and others far too colorful to be called a dress anymore but an eyesore. Still, he didn't say anything and continued to sip on his drink, twirling the liquid inside now and then to concentrate on the people. Men and women alike continued to pour into the room, congesting it further, and some were heading out the doors in pairs, most likely to have some private moments together. Reborn snorted at that and took another sip.

"You look lonely there. Willing to spare some time for a dance?" A soft voice came from his right and he peered over curiously. His black eyes examined over the female before him, wandering over the figure.

She was one of the few tamed in colors of the group. Her long wavy purple hair fell below her waist and large similarly-colored eyes with long eyelashes flashed at him. Pale skin with a small dust of blush on the cheeks complimented the features with soft purple lipstick on the lips, nothing looking over done. Even the eye shadow and eyeliner complimented the face just right, bringing out more of those eyes. Looking down, a light purple dress that was unlike the others in the room clung tightly to her curvy body that had a crossing of straps at the back and came around to the front of the chest, underneath the large breasts. The cloth there above covered most of her bosom, but left enough for eyes to wander. The dress itself had a crumpled look to it, but that didn't matter much and it fell down just a few inches below her hips, halfway between that and the knees.

As she stepped forward, her hips swayed side to side, obviously catching the attention of other men in the room to stare at her behind. She reached up to push her long hair back and tilted her head slightly to get a better look at the hunter. Her high-heeled purple shoes had straps going up the legs until below the knees and man, were those legs stare-worthy.

Reborn eyed her for a few moments before nodding, placing his glass down onto one of the many tables. Reaching forward, he took the woman's outstretched hand and slowly pulled her towards the crowd. He could feel some jealous glares towards his direction, knowing that he had managed to get one of the few most beautiful and well-balanced dressed women in the ballroom.

He pulled out into the crowd, got into position with one hand on the woman's hip, and gave a smirk. The woman did the same, but her fingers wiggled slightly on the hunter's side and she gave a seductive giggle. Slowly, he fell into the dancing crowd, moving around other pairs, and spun. Their feet were in complete sync, matching perfectly at the tempo, and he watched as her hair fluttered around her body. The woman's large breasts jiggled slightly at each step and she closed her eyes as if taking in everything happily.

"One would think that your constant denial of dancing with other woman would be because you don't know how to dance."

Reborn smirked at that and took a step back to spin the woman, watching as the dress flared up slightly, almost teasingly revealing more of that skin underneath. Even with heels on, she was graceful in her movements, never slipping, never going out of beat. "Well, seeing as the rest of the woman are trying to look like overly puffed up flowers, you looked the most normal of the group."

The woman stared at him with a pout. "Aw, so it wasn't my looks that made you say yes?"

"It was a contributing factor to my decision."

Even with the comment, the woman continued to smile softly, her purple lips curved just right. "How cruel."

They continued to dance among the group, being the eye catchers of many, and stares of envy were thrown at their direction. The females of the ballroom were glaring at the woman dancing with the handsome Reborn while gazing longingly at the male at the same time. It was the opposite for the males of the ballroom. But it was all ignored by the dancing two.

"So, where'd you learn to dance so well, handsome?" The woman spoke, doing a quick twirl, before landing back into Reborn's grasp.

"That's a secret."

"Oh? How mysterious." She fluttered her eyes as she looked over the man before her hungrily.

"Ah, that's just my personality."

The woman just laughed lightly, bringing herself closer against the hunter's body. "If you're trying to charm me, it's not working."

The other smirked at that. "Wasn't planning to."

"You're no fun." They danced for a little bit longer, edging closer to the center of the group, and weaved around other dancers.

"So, have you found the target yet, Tsuna?" Reborn finally spoke, looking down at the now supposed woman with a smirk. The demon returned the gesture and continued to dance, pulling the hunter along into a path.

"Damn, you recognized me too fast. I was hoping to play with you for a little bit longer. Oh, well. But of course, she was quite easy to find. Oh, look, there she is now." The expression on the now revealed incubus shifted at that, turning into a pout, and the voice changed into a deeper one, obviously a male's. Tsuna's purple eyes snapped towards a woman that had an arm wrapped around someone else, pulling another person closer. She was whispering words into the man's ear and was pressing her chest against the male quite eagerly. It was obvious that they were worming their way out the room, trying to get to the back for the better parts. Reborn followed the direction and smirked, motioning their dancing movement towards the couple heading out.

When they got close enough, the two contracted partners pulled apart, bowing to each other, before Reborn held out his hand. Tsuna took it with glee, keeping up his role, and pulled himself closer, fluttering his eyes. To everyone else, they looked like they were pairing up for the rest of the night, a couple in their eyes.

"You look ridiculous like that." Reborn snorted, knowing the true identity of the so-called woman beside him.

Tsuna hummed to himself, edging their bodies towards the exit where their target was heading out of. "I do not. Those lustful eyes staring at me says otherwise. And anyway, we blend in perfectly like this. We look like any other couple in the ballroom."

The hunter shook his head, knowing that that was true, and placed an arm around the thin waist. If he hadn't known the person beside him was Tsuna, he would totally go for someone with that appearance, it was a breathtaking look the demon had on. "That's true. No one suspects anything about us. Our target isn't aware either. But you know Tsuna, I want you to change out of that as quickly as possible. It's too weird to see you looking like someone else."

"I dress to impress," The demon smirked, nudging closer as they went through the crowd. "And transforming my body into a woman is such an easy task for an incubus. We need to sometimes seduce a person who swings the other way. You hunters get incubus and succubus mixed up so easily."

"I can see why." Reborn smirked, making their way out of the ballroom, and followed their target behind. Tsuna's purple eyes kept a lookout, guiding the pair around, until they pulled apart to edge up at a corner. The hunter peered over, watching as their target and her partner entered one of the bedrooms, closing the door behind. Pulling out his gun, Reborn went forward first, Tsuna following right behind, keeping the clicking of his heels quiet. He gave a quick nod at the demon when they arrived at the door and kicked it in, pointing his weapon outward.

"What the hell?!" The half-dressed man inside called out, eyes wide, and was trying to get his zipper back on. He had barely been able to start undressing below and turned around to stare, glaring at the intruding two. "Can't you see we're busy?!"

"But of course," Tsuna smiled, stepping in, swinging his female body to reveal more of his curves. He watched as the man before him eyed his body up and down, already mentally undressing him. "But we're not here for you, but for the woman behind. I'm afraid we have business with her."

"So why don't you be a nice man and step away." Reborn lifted his gun up higher, clicking the safety off, watching the target's movement carefully. The man immediately backed off, seeing the threat and going off to the side.

The woman on the bed, however, was glaring. She stood up from her position on the bed, flattening out her clothes to make them presentable, and eyed the two contracted partners. Before long, she smiled temptingly at Reborn, shifting closer and pulled down on her dress to reveal more of her cleavage. "Oh? I take it that you want a go at me as well? Never thought I'd actually have a line waiting for me. And I don't normally go for threesomes, but I can make an exception this time."

The hunter couldn't help but snort, between his target and the transformed Tsuna, the latter was obviously better looking in appearances and acting. "Stop messing around, you Kok-Lir. I know you're a demon that preys on men and eat them when you're done messing with them. So why don't we go to the best part already?" He smirked and fired off a few rounds of bullets. As expected, the Kok-Lir dodged to the side, snarling angrily. Her body began to transform slightly in retaliation, not much different expect for the added claws and horns with her face becoming a little narrower. When the enemy demon snarled, a large row of teeth was revealed. The innocent, near-victim, man screamed out loud at that and completely fainted at the sight, foam and drool appearing around the mouth.

Reborn snorted at idiocy before him, shaking his head in disappointment, and fired a couple more bullets at the target. She continued to dodge and jumped into the air to get a surprise attack on the hunter, except Tsuna reacted in turn. The incubus jumped up above the hunter's head, did a quick spin, and slammed his high-heeled shoe into the Kok-Lir's face. With the force of his strength, the enemy went flying, hitting into the side walls with a loud crash, and large cracks appeared on the wall around her body. Tsuna simply did a backflip in mid-air and landed on the ground, his dress going up slightly to purposefully allow Reborn to catch a glance of the lacy panties underneath.

The hunter growled, turning his eyes away from the show and back to the enemy. "Tsuna, get out of that outfit already."

"Why? Like what you see?" Tsuna chuckled and reached down to the helms of the dress to slowly pull it up. "Do you want to see everything? I wouldn't mind stripping down for you."

Reborn glared and stepped towards the Kok-Lir, who was just barely standing up from the attack. He knew immediately that the force of the kick had broken a few of the target's bones. Taking aim, he fired a few bullets in succession, ending the demon's life immediately. It wasn't a hard mission, just tricky. It was finding the demon amongst the crowd (which was easy with Tsuna around who could sniff her out) and separating her from everyone to get her alone (Tsuna stated that following her next victim would make things easier), that was the hardest part. But with Tsuna, a complicated mission became overly simple.

He watched as the Kok-Lir's body dissipated and turned around only to have his face smashed into something fleshy and soft. It took him a few moments to realize what it was, a little shocked at having such an attack on him. "Tsuna…" He growled out, putting his weapon away, and reached forward to grasp those thin sides of the incubus. His fingers curled around the curves, taking them in, before finally ripping the demon away. He couldn't help but have a little bit of redness on his cheeks, never before having his face squashed into set of breasts like that before. "Dammit, stop that!"

Tsuna was laughing wholeheartedly, having his arms wrapped around Reborn's neck to prevent himself from being pushed away completely. With the heels on, he was almost as tall as the human and with one movement had his lips connected with the other. Still, the hunter resisted, trying to shove the other away, though his hands did wander here and there, up and down that smooth body.

'Damn, as a woman, Tsuna has one hell of a body.' The hunter grumbled and managed to pry himself away from the other, trying to get the both of them out of the room. Except Tsuna was quite resilient and jumped up to wrap his legs around Reborn's waist, locking his feet together, and went back for another kiss. The purple lipstick was smeared onto the hunter's lips and soon he had a tongue going in, getting a small moan from the back of his throat.

Though the hunter, as always, resisted and went for the legs around him, accidently letting his hands ride up those hips and to the underwear. Tsuna let out a small laugh at Reborn's discomfort, deepening the kiss to make sure that he got as much of his lipstick on the other.

However, like all good things, the human managed to disconnect the legs and yank Tsuna away from him, reaching into his pocket to get a handkerchief to wipe his lips of the evidence. "Dammit, must you always do that?"

"But of course, it's fun."

Reborn just grumbled under his breath and began to make his way out of the room. He momentarily glanced at the near-victim, but left him behind, not bothering at all, and wrapped an arm around Tsuna's waist to keep up the act they had placed at the party.

The demon just smiled happily, wrapping an arm around Reborn's own, swaying his body just right to earn more attention as they reentered the ballroom. He grabbed a glass of champagne, stared at it before slowly sipping on it for taste. He wiggled his nose, it wasn't as strong as the ones back at home.

"Don't like it?" The hunter questioned and watched as the glass was shoved into his hands. He took it willingly, continuing where Tsuna had left off.

"Nope," Tsuna cuddled closer. "Hey, you want to dance a little more before we leave?"

Reborn seemed to think on that for a few moments and placed his glass down for an answer. It wouldn't hurt to dance some more, it wasn't often he was able to relax like this.


	13. Intermediate 2

He was frustrated, very frustrated. It was starting to get ridiculous on how bad it was getting. It wasn't because of the missions, or the booze, or anything. It was Tsuna, Tsuna the incubus that left him unsatisfied and completely wanting more. The damned creature knew how to leave him body desiring more, teased wholeheartedly, and he always had to push away to prevent things from getting too far.

But the end results were the same, he was still horny, unbelievably horny. And he wanted to grab some random stranger off the street to take repeatedly until all of his frustration was gone and out of him. It didn't matter who, man or woman, just someone he could fuck for a good few hours straight without care.

Reborn ran a hand through his hair, closing the front door behind him, knowing fully well that Tsuna was staring worriedly from behind. He growled, irritated with the demon, and made his way from his home, wanting nothing more than to have a good night walk to clear his head. It was a good day and maybe if he was lucky, he could find someone to screw with.

As he passed the walkways, peering over people, he slipped into a bar and headed straight to the front to get a drink. There were a massive amount of people in the place, dancing around and rubbing their bodies against each other. Skin was showing and sweat glittered on their flesh from the numerous lights and the air was humid with heat. There were a few couples in the corner already making out while others were continuing to dance like they were having sex right there on the floor. As he waited for the bartender to grab his order, he took that time to look around the room and let his eyes roam the area for someone good to pick up. Luckily for him, he didn't have to make much of an effort.

A busty female with light brown hair came striding up to him willingly, flirting her eyes by flashing them, and wrapped an arm around his waist. "Hey, there handsome. You alone?"

The hunter smirked, looks like he would be getting what he wanted easily. "Yeah, definitely alone. You willing to get out of here?" He went to grab his drink as he paid for it, slipping on it quickly to finish it, already knowing the answer to his question.

The woman simply smiled and nodded her head, rubbing her large chest against Reborn's arms, waiting for the man to finish. Her eyes watched as the hunter's Adam apple shifted as he swallowed and the moment he finished, he placed the glass back down onto the bar counter. He left a tip beside the empty glass before leaving with the woman, shifting through the mass of people until he got to the front. A few hands shot out to grab him, trying to pull him onto the dance floor, but they were all ignored.

The woman continued to smile, flipping her long hair back. "So…your place?"

At that, Reborn paused. That's right. He had someone staying with him now, the person that was the cause of his sexual frustration. "No, afraid not, I have someone staying there at this moment."

But she didn't seem effected by his response. "That's just fine. Mine is unavailable as well. Perhaps a hotel? I know one not too far away from here. It's through that alleyway over there."

"Sounds good to me." Reborn simply followed along, not really thinking much at this point of time. They headed across the street, passing the cars and other people who were walking along, and stepped into the said alleyway. It was dark, but Reborn didn't care and continued onwards until they passed a corner. Suddenly, he didn't feel as confident about his surrounding…it was, how to say this, suspicious. There were too little people, too little light, and there was no end in sight. His eyes drifted down to the woman, looking over the features carefully, and then back up at the surrounding area. They were drifting further away from the street and he could hardly hear any noises except for the crickets. Without knowing, he thought about Tsuna…

"You idiot! Get away from her!"

Reborn's eyes widened the moment when he recognized the voice as it rang out around the enclosed area, doing as told immediately. He ripped himself out of the grasp, taking a few steps back, and relooked over the woman. The hunter didn't sense anything from her, no demonic aura, no nothing, and the appearances is normal, and looked up at the top of the building where he could see brown hair poking out from the side. What he saw made him freeze into place. Tsuna's eyes were now a burning orange and he was glaring, the waves of anger rolling off of him uncontrollably. The hunter could feel it easily even when so far away and took another step back again by instinct.

The woman below suddenly made a screech, an inhuman like one, and hissed at the demon above. At that, Reborn knew he had almost been killed by an enemy like an idiot and drew out his gun, pointing it outwards for defense. He hadn't expected a random person he was trying to pick up to actually be a demon in disguise. What were the chances of that? Reborn grinded his teeth together in frustration, he really had almost been killed fool-heartedly.

He watched as the woman transformed before his eyes, the long revealing legs twisting together into a long tail, dark green scales peeling out, the bottom remaining a lighter color. It was a snake tail and he watched as the scales just stopped over the waist to the normal peach-colored skin. The clothes were shredded from the transformation, revealing the undergarments of a plated oriented bra that barely covered anything of the breast and symbols of some marking he didn't recognize burned into the skin on the upper arms.

It was a Lamia, he recognized the appearance being different from a medusa or other snake-like demons, and to think he had almost fallen into one's trap. They were known for seducing men into dark areas to kill and devour them besides feeding on the blood of children and sleeping men. Strangely, they are never known for attacking woman.

Still, Reborn cursed his stupidity and fired a couple of rounds of bullets, sending the female demon back a few slithers, but she remained close by, looking at him as prey. He growled, ready to cast some wind magic to get her to stray further away from him, when Tsuna suddenly jumped down between them. His appearance outright prevented the Lamia from getting any closer and at the same time, prevented Reborn from fighting back. The incubus was glaring, his tail hanging limply at his side, and his nails were out as if ready to attack.

"This human is mine." Tsuna growled, taking a step forward, but the Lamia didn't back down and instead snarled back. Within seconds, the hunter watched as the contracted demon that was always close to his side dash forward without a second thought and immediately stabbed the snake-woman through the stomach with his bare hands. Tsuna had no care towards anything else, flexing his fingers from within the enemy, and snapped his tail angrily behind.

Green blood splattered out from behind where the hand had gone through, splattering onto the walls and floor, and Tsuna instantly retracted the limb out. The Lamia screamed furiously, her body jumping from the sudden yank, and was trying to reorient herself from the abrupt strike with one hand covering the large gaping wound. She twirled around to use her tail to strike back, the green liquid dripping down her entire body.

Reborn, still behind, noticed the barb at the end. Poison. He immediately thought to himself. His eyes widened when he saw Tsuna not moving to dodge and yelled out about the weapon, taking aim to fire to lend a hand. But still, the brunet didn't move, no, he caught the tail and instead spun around the limb, twisting it at the base hard enough that with one strong tug ripped it off.

Reborn's eyes widened once more at the sudden show of violence, surprise filling his eyes as the normally controlled demon turned overly vicious and sprayed more blood across the walls surrounding them. The female demon wailed again, muttering curses in the demonic language, before Tsuna finally grabbed the head to tear it off, silencing everything. Turning around slowly, he tossed the head aside without a care, letting it roll across the floor, and peered directly into Reborn's black eyes, his own still glowing bright orange. The body behind dissolved, showing no evidence of what had happened there except for the blood which could easily look like paint to anyone's eyes.

The hunter's gun didn't pull away, no, he couldn't move and felt the shiver of fear running down his spine. That's right, Tsuna was still a demon through and through despite how kind he could get, he had almost forgotten about that major identity slip. He was barely aware of the monster behind dissipating from its death and watched as the incubus walked forward closer towards him, like he was stalking. Reborn wanted to shoot and yet he wavered, would Tsuna really harm him? Those blood covered hands reached out to wrap around the one holding up the gun and he almost flinched.

"Reborn, drop the gun." Those eyes were still on him and without meaning to, he instantly complied, letting go, watching as Tsuna tossed the weapon back only to be caught by the tail to hold. The hunter took a couple steps back to gain some distance defensively, wondering what was going to happen next. This Tsuna was different, this Tsuna was a being that can cause mass destruction, the demon that was feared. He wasn't the one he had gotten to known, the one that loved and enjoyed to tease him…

"Reborn," Tsuna's tone of voice was still thick and continued to prowl closer, his thin body swaying at his movement. Reborn almost wanted to flinch again, but didn't, standing strong, but couldn't help but take another step back once more when Tsuna was just a foot from him. He was still in the alleyway, away from people's eyes, and he had only blinked for a millisecond when suddenly he found Tsuna's face a couple inches away from his own. Almost jumping in shock, the hunter remained still, backing up until he felt himself pressing against the wall. Tsuna was pissed, it was too evident. "I can't believe you actually fell for that Lamia's trick. This isn't normal for you, you were obviously distracted."

Reborn didn't say anything to that, he _had_ been distracted, and in doing so, got careless. He had been so desperate to fulfill his own needs that he had forgotten that there were other demons around. He glanced away for a moment before looking back, still able to feel that rage flooding off violently. Before he could see anything, he was suddenly pinned over a metal crate he had barely recognized being there before and blinked.

"I see that my words aren't reaching you yet. Fine then," Tsuna used his free hand, pulling at Reborn's collar to reveal some free skin, and leaned over, his petite body against the human's. Before the hunter could realize what was happening, the brunet bit down at the neck, _painfully_. Reborn opened his mouth to cry out, but there was no sound, eyes wide in shock as pain flooded every senses he had, and felt his body shaking. Within seconds, he began to struggle, trying to get away from those sharp teeth and yet every movement he made, Tsuna sank the teeth further in, finally breaking right through the skin. And then pleasure began to flow, powerful desirable pleasure that made Reborn's knees feel weak and his toes curl within his leather shoes. It was the pleasure he had been seeking, the feeling his body desperately needed.

The incubus let his hands trail down Reborn chest, unbuttoning the shirt underneath, uncaring that he was dirtying the clothes, and let his cold fingers rake up the skin, leaving red marks along the way. The hunter's fingers clenched into the side of the crate desperately to give himself a bearing on his situation, that wonderfully alluring scent slowly took over his mind. He could feel his jacket being pulled off of him and then his shirt, but he couldn't do anything, he couldn't feel anything. Those teeth, those lips, were still on him, in him, and god did it feel good. He could barely register the cold air biting into his hot flesh, the body pressed against him was good enough to keep him warm.

Tsuna eventually pulled away, licking his lips momentarily before moving to the left shoulder, and immediately placed another bite. This time, he got a reaction, Reborn letting out a small moan as the same pleasure assaulted his body once more. The human bended his back towards the body behind him, enjoying every touch that fell onto him, that assaulted his body. Those hands continued to wander around his body before finally settling at his thighs, slipping the fingers into the waistband. Reborn shivered as those nails scratched along the section, wandering back and forth then stopped at the front where his zipper was at.

He knew where this was going, it was too obvious. But he couldn’t get his body to struggle, much less mutter a word to say something. He could hear the zipper being undone, the flap opening, and then those cunning hands grasped him below and squeezed. Another strangled moan came from his lips, desire building uncontrollably inside him, even more so when one of those hands began to pump him. The other hand played with his tip, circling around, the fingernails just lightly scratching against the hardened flesh just right to make him see stars.

Tsuna’s body was grinding into his own, able to feel that tail helping in moving his pants and underwear further down to his feet by pushing down at the top. Reborn almost shivered from the cold air, but instead let out another groan as those hands gave another painful squeeze. It was too good, his body was already starting to shut down on him. Tsuna was working in combination to prevent him from fighting back, covering all the spots. Those devious lips were still at his neck and shoulder, making small kisses here and there before working their way up to the right ear. That tongue curved around, licking from the end to the top and then inside to back down to the earlobe. Tsuna bit down gently at the lobe and made a tug, his warm breath tickling along the cheeks.

Reborn gasped as those fingers below continued to play with him, throwing him deeper and deeper into that pleasure. And soon one of those hands pulled back, trailing behind and below to his entrance. “Tsuna, don’t…you dare.”

The demon just chuckled in amusement. “Ah? You’re saying this now? After I’m come so far with you? I don’t think so. You still need to learn your lesson. Now be a good little human and take it.” He plucked at the hole, rubbing it for good measure, and while doing so, continued his movement on the Reborn’s member, never once stopping the pace.

The demon smirked as he twirled the tip of his finger around the anus, knowing he had Reborn’s full attention without a doubt, and finally ending the teasing by slipping it in. He could feel those muscles tensing up at the foreign intrusion and he was careful to push further through, going deeper. Reborn hissed, his face lying against the cool metal, his mind rapidly trying to find an escape route. He wasn’t going to allow himself to be taken by a demon, not by an incubus, not by Tsuna. It would be a wound to his pride, a very deep and painful wound. And yet, when another finger came pushing in and touched that bundle of nerves, he could feel his mind slowly slipping away. His strength was already leaving him, disappearing, drained, and the demon smirked at the sight. With his fingers, he pulled out slightly before ramming back in, hitting that prostate gland directly.

Reborn only saw whiteness as he felt his gland abused repeatedly, those fingers hitting that wonderful spot directly each and every time. It was too fast for him to keep up with and he opened his mouth to silently scream. His legs shaking at the pleasure and he hardly felt that third one going in, only adding to the buildup he was feeling within the pit of his stomach. It was getting hard to control and it was gaining pressure and force, he wanted to come already.

“Reborn, you’re close, aren’t you?” Tsuna whispered into his ears seductively. “We haven’t even gotten to the best part yet, too.” He chuckled, quickening the pace of his fingers and he felt those muscles around him tightening up. The hardness in his other hand was twitching and finally with a combined movement of a thrust and pump on the member, Reborn let out a shaky moan as he spilled himself across the box, his body shivering in delight.

The hunter wanted to collapse, his body already exhausted from that one bit, but he knew he wasn’t going to be getting a break anytime soon. It was too obvious. But the hands retreated out, pulling away, leaving him hanging. His mind was spinning and was barely aware of the movement behind him until he felt those hands touching him on the hips as if positioning. And then he felt it, that penetration, of Tsuna pushing himself inside, slipping right in without any problems and Reborn sneered heavily to himself. He knew where this was going to go, there was no doubt about it in this mind.

“I’m not going to let you rest tonight at all, Reborn. I’m going to make sure to learn something.” Tsuna chuckled and pulled out only to push right back into that moist heat, aiming for that bundle of nerves. The motion was immediately noted by Reborn as he let out a moan as that pleasure came back to him full force. His body would jump at each thrust and that pool of heat was coming back to him, his body arching more, desiring more. He hadn’t felt like this like…ever! This pleasure, it was unbelievable, no number of woman or man he had ever slept with made him feel this good, this demanding. Was it because Tsuna was an incubus? Reborn wasn’t sure. All he could think about was Tsuna hitting him just right over and over again, never letting up on the pace and keeping it quick and even.

He could feel his iron-tight control on himself slowly slipping away and slipping and slipping until it finally _snapped_.

“Ah!” He let out a loud scream, bending his head forward, as he felt his body jump each time he was thrust into. He could feel Tsuna moving deeper inside, taking him completely, his body and mind finally giving into the pleasure. Those fingers were gripping painfully into his thighs, leaving hand-sized bruises on his skin, but that pain only correlated with the pleasure. It mixed, almost matching together perfectly, and he could feel his entire body reeling at the effects. Each movement made him moan loudly, almost lewdly, and the fast pace of Tsuna entering and leaving him drove him crazy. This was NOTHING like when he had slept with someone else, the latter was nowhere close. This burning pleasure, the scorching heat, left him desiring more, wanting, craving, and each thrust made him come closer to the end he so desperately wanted to reach. The feeling of satisfaction, of completeness, and yet at the same time, Reborn didn’t want it to end. He wanted to dwell in this pleasure longer, let Tsuna have his way with his body to continue giving him this addictive goodness.

“T-Tsuna…” Reborn moaned loudly, barely aware that Tsuna was chuckling from behind, his legs spread further apart. The brunet wrapped an arm around the hunter’s waist, his fingers drifting downwards to the hot mass below. He heard a loud moan the moment he gripped onto it, able to see the semen dripping down from the tip. Tightening his grasp, he quickly began to pump the member, timing it just right when he hit the prostate gland. The combined effect was instantaneous, Tsuna watched as the human screamed from the pleasure, his body jerking upward against him, accidently pushing himself deeper, earning a soft shaky groan in return. “Ah…”

“Reborn, you’re already so hard. You won’t be lasting for very long at this rate.” Tsuna didn’t relent on his movement, and instead of slowing down, he quickened the pace. He could already hear Reborn screaming out to him, almost close to begging and yet didn’t go all the way there, the hunter’s hold on his will was still there. But it didn’t matter much to him, the demon wanted to see Reborn fall into pleasure, to feel his body violated repeatedly, and damn did it feel good. To see the normally arrogant human with his face twisted in pleasure, shoved over a crate, ass high in this air, and being pounded vigorously into was a wonderful sight.

Soon, Reborn’s body gave in, his body jerking as he came once more, letting out a shaky moan, knowing fully well he had been defeated. All the energy he had was gone and he collapsed, barely having enough strength to hold himself up. Tsuna didn’t stopped, not too far behind, and filled Reborn, letting a soft groan, enjoying the moist heat and the muscles clenching down around him.

The hunter was breathing deeply, painfully, and his chest was on fire, his heart throbbing from within. He could feel the pounding in his head, stuck in the afterglow, and was hardly aware he was being lifted up, his clothes being held up by Tsuna’s tail. Reborn was turned over and laid on his back against the metal, unaware of his surroundings. He was lifted up momentarily again only to fall back down, and instead of meeting the crate again, he felt something soft and firm. Turning his head slightly, he blinked and then blinked again. He knew this place, it was his bedroom, he could recognize the decoration anywhere.

Reborn was in the center of his bed, on top of the covers, and peered down at Tsuna curiously who was between his legs. The demon smirked, pushing the legs further apart, the tail now free of the clothes that had been thrown aside had wrapped around the human’s left leg. “Don’t think I’m going to let you go that easily.”

With that, Tsuna pushed himself right back into that moist heat, licking his lips as he watched Reborn’s face contorted in surprise and horror, those black eyes widening. Oh, yes, he was going to have his fun with his human and use this wonderful body to its fullest.

And so, he pulled out only to thrust right back in, listening to Reborn scream out in that pleasure, watching those fingers grip into the bed sheets tightly. He would make sure the hunter learned his lesson, _indefinitely_.

* * *

Reborn grumbled, cursing lightly as sunlight began to hit his eyes, and turned away to prevent it before burying himself further into his blankets. It was nice and warm where he was at and he didn't want to get up just yet. It wasn't often that he was able to get such rest after going after a demon. No…did he go after a demon last night?

The hunter fluttered his eyes open, blinking as he looked over to the blank spot next to him, and then tried to move. He wished he hadn't. Everything hurt, everything was throbbing. Rolling around so that he could be on his back, he took a quick look at his surrounding, recognizing his room, and then pulled at the covers further up. And then he remembered.

He wish he hadn't. Groaning out loud, able to feel the sensation of Tsuna deep inside him, able to remember the pleasure he felt, Reborn growled loudly and was well aware of the fluid that was dripping out of his body.

"Finally awake?" A voice spoke beside him and Reborn snapped his head towards the demon with a glare. He wanted to use his guns to shoot the other repeatedly, and yet, he could barely get his body to move.

"You…bastard. I'll get you for this." The hunter promised to himself, wanting nothing more than to tear that smirk off.

"You're welcome to try," Tsuna simply grinned and then held up some papers in his right hand, waving them. The human recognized them easily, an eyebrow raised in confusion on how the other had actually received them. "You have a new mission to complete so you better recover lest another demon decides to play with you again because you're too sore to move." With that, the demon slipped out through the door with a grin, waving a hand in amusement before closing it.

Reborn was cursing, thinking of how many ways he could get back at him, but he knew better. Tsuna would be a tough foe to defeat and dominate, but he would do it, even if it kills him. But for now, he wanted some more sleep, his body was still in pain and his ass was throbbing.

And a part that the hunter realized about himself was that he felt completely and totally _satisfied_. And that he wanted to do it again. Damn that demon to hell.


	14. Mission 5

Reborn twitched, he could feel another presence within his bedroom and it didn't feel like Tsuna's. No, this one was fiery. It was hotter, warmer, and it burned into the air, draining the moisture that was in it. He smacked his lips, finding them cracked, and his throat was dry and parched. He felt like he was melting and yet didn't. Opening his eyes cautiously, he peered around the room until he looked towards the side of the bed to find Tsuna gone, the portion the demon normally took up cold. Reborn tilted his head slightly, burying his left cheek deep into the pillow. Well, that was unusual. Normally whenever he woke up, the brunet would still be cuddled up against him, holding onto him like he was some sort of teddy bear. So finding the spot gone was…odd.

Looking at the clock for the time, he found it late in the morning, almost reaching ten. He must have overslept from his exhaustion of using magic repeatedly for yesterday's mission against a demon that had a weakness towards ice. The moment he had placed his head on his pillow to catch some shut-eye and recover from the battle, he had effectively passed out within seconds. He hadn't meant to, but it had happened and he was completely dead to the world around him.

Sitting up slowly, he peered around the room once more, the dryness still there and he wanted nothing more than to get a glass of water to cleanse his parched throat. He didn't even want to try talking, betting his voice would be raspy. The blankets fell over his body, revealing his shirtless attire, and the muscles underneath flexed as he stretched his limbs over his head. When he managed to hear that satisfying crack in his back, he swung his feet over the bed and gave a muffled yawn. The pants he had accidently slept in were slightly ruined, but he didn't care much at this moment, a simple trip to the cleaners would take out the wrinkles with ease. That or buying a whole new set, whichever was easiest.

Running a hand through his hair, he pulled back his falling black bangs and gave a curl a quick twirl before finally standing to head to the kitchen. His fedora was laying innocently at his bedside, temporarily forgotten for his current plan in mind, making his way to the front door to leave the bedroom. It was really quiet today, oddly no sounds coming from the house, which wasn't exactly abnormal. Tsuna had always been a quiet person, never saying much unless needed. Rubbing the back of his head tiredly, Reborn opened the door, peeking up and down the hallways for that familiar brunet or the flickering of that tail but neither was in sight.

"Tsuna?" He called out curiously, wondering where the demon had gone to. It was unusual for him to vanish all of a sudden like that. It's been a month since they had been contracted together already and the two had settled into a routine. The sounds of something being messed around in the kitchen caught his attention and he went towards it, thinking it was the demon. As he stepped inside, blinking his eyes to clear up his vision, he took one foot into the room and looked up only to freeze. 'That's…not Tsuna.'

Instead of seeing that familiar looking bed of brown hair and short stature, he came across the opposite. The man that was standing there had shoulder-length silver hair, curving around the face just right to angle the features, and bright green eyes stood out among that white, slightly narrowed as they peered back at him. A pair of silver earrings was hanging on the earlobe with one of them curving upwards to another earring in the middle for a chain. A cigarette was hanging between the red lips, the end bright crimson, telling the hunter that it had been lit just recently, and the clothes were in a clash of red, white and black.

The black jacket was torn at the elbows, skulls littering the front and back that were in white, and the shirt inside was a bright red, lines running up and down for a design. The skinny jeans that hugged the legs too closely were black as well with white stripes going down the sides, and there was a single tear on the right knee. Various chains were connected on the pants, jiggling at his movement, and there were numerous rings were on the thin fingers, one of them being a skull as well. All in all, the person before Reborn looked like a punk in his mid-twenties and, though the taste was off compared to the hunter's gentlemanly style, it was oddly fitting to the silver-haired man.

Still, that didn't make the human any less tense and his black eyes dashed around the room, looking for a weapon to defend himself. 'An enemy?' He thought, not sure on what the other would try to do to him.

Those green eyes were staring at him, the hands grasped around a bottle that looked like some of Reborn's rum. The hunter twitched, that was his stuff.

The green-eyed man finally spoke, looking up and down Reborn's half-nude form in question. "You Reborn?"

"Depends. Who are you?"

The other placed down the glass bottle and pulled out his cigarette, blowing a puff of smoke. Reborn growled at that, he hated it when people smoked in his place. It always left a stench. "I asked first."

The hunter snorted, edging around to get to the drawer that had the knives within, wondering where Tsuna had gone to. He needed to get the upper hand towards his enemy, but he was unable to tell if the person before him was a demon or just a regular person. "Yeah, I'm Reborn. Now who are you?"

"Hayato Gokudera," The man finally spoke, those eyes looking over Reborn's form as if calculating something. He then snorted, glaring at the hunter with some emotions that the other didn't recognize flooding through those expressive green eyes. "Tch, I guess what Tenth was saying about you was correct."

Reborn raised an eyebrow at that, what had the other meant? And who was Tenth? In the amidst of his questioning, he ripped open the drawer to draw out a knife, pointing it towards the silver-haired man, the blade glittering in the lights. "Are you an enemy? And who are you anyway?" When he didn't get an answer for a few moments, he growled. "And put that cigarette out. I don't approve smoking in my home."

Hayato snorted in amusement, but complied, squeezing the bud between his own fingertips, and tossed the stick into the trashcan. Reborn didn't budge from his spot though and remained trained on the silver-haired man. He wasn't certain if he wanted to attack at this point of time, the risk was too large. After all, the person before him was confident despite having a knife pointed towards him. Just as he was about to speak up again, someone stepped into the kitchen and waved a piece of paper that caught everyone's attention.

"Hey, Reborn, there's a new mission for you," Tsuna's voice cut into the group and peered up at the two of them who were obviously glaring at each other. He raised an eyebrow at the sight before rolling his eyes, shaking his head, and marched closer. Raising the papers up to the hunter's face, he wiggled his nose, his tail swishing behind as he moved. "Here, it's about a Bogles that's been attacking a neighborhood the next town over."

The hunter turned towards the incubus, still cautious about the other person, but plucked the papers out of those hands to read over. The mission wasn't hard, just kill the troublemaker, and he would be paid. Simple. It wasn't something he would normally take, but sometimes he didn't mind taking a mission like this when he didn't feel like traveling too far or putting too much effort. Some big rewards required him to actually travel to another country and right now, he just wanted to take on something easy.

"This one shouldn't be too hard to complete. About a two-hour drive away," Reborn looked over the location, recognizing it. "Ah, this place, it's quite known for drawing all sorts of things. But Tsuna, what about him?" The hunter brought their attention to the intruder that was standing a few feet away.

"Ah, I guess I forgot to introduce you to him. This is Hayato Gokudera, he's a good friend of mine. He came in during the middle of the night and I didn't want to wake you up then since I know you enjoyed sleeping." Tsuna smiled gently, walking over to the silver-haired man, and patted him on the shoulder affectionately.

Reborn put down his knife, but not away. He remembered that name now, it was the one Takeshi had mentioned. Ah, so that meant Hayato was a demon, but what type?

Tsuna, as if knowing what the hunter wanted to know, answered. "Hayato is a half-Fezeh, they are wolf-like demons that generally travel in packs. They are known to be immortal, but don't mix them up with werewolves. But Hayato is a half-breed, crossed between a human and a Fezeh and, because of that, was ex-commutated from the group. We became friends a little after and I invited him to stay with me at my place in Hell. That was a long time ago though. If you haven't already noticed, the warmth and dryness in the house is caused by him. He's a fire-based demon so he can't always help what effect he causes on the environment, like me with my charm spells, but it's been toned down from what it would have done originally."

"I see."

Hayato's rough attitude seemed to change completely at the appearance of Tsuna, treading closer with a wide smile. "Tenth, thanks for letting me in. I wish you could have told me earlier that you were contracted with someone though. I mean, you don't deserve to be contracted with anyone but the best."

"I'm the number one hunter in the world." Reborn argued back.

"So?"

The hunter twitched at that, irritated about the other already. He was tempted to go back into the bedroom to grab his gun.

"Hayato, stop that. Reborn is a good person, don't say anything rude about someone without knowing them first. I've told you this multiple times in the past," Tsuna scolded immediately, hands on his hips and looking at the other as if he was some sort of angry mother. The half-Fezeh backed away and seemed to pout in disappointment, but didn't say anything else on the matter. The incubus twisted back to the hunter with a sigh. "I hate to rush, but I think it might be best to get going on your new mission."

Reborn peered at the smaller demon then up to Hayato before nodding his head. He knew very well what the other was trying to do. After all, at this rate, they would end up fighting, no doubt about it. Their two personalities were conflicting as it was. He turned around and went towards his bedroom to get dressed, knowing he would need to get his morning cup of espresso and breakfast at a later time when the two demons weren't inside the kitchen.

Reaching the room, he went towards the bathroom, wanting to take a shower to refresh himself from the heat. He hadn't noticed, but he was starting to sweat from how hot it was and the droplets on his skin were glistering in the sunlight that slipped through the curtains. Rubbing the back of his head, he turned on the shower to let it warm up slightly before starting his morning routine. With a toothbrush in his mouth, he wandered about his bedroom, gathering new clothes, and then went back to spit out the surds. Just as he did so, he looked back up at the mirror and almost jumped. It took him a few seconds to realize just who was actually standing there and growled. "Tsuna, how many times have I told you not to do that?"

"Many," The brunet smirked and stepped closer, wrapping his arms around the hunter's waist. His long tail was out again and swinging in the back. "Thought I should see if I could join you in the shower."

"No," Reborn immediately replied and yanked the other off of him so that he could strip. He had long ignored the other in the bathroom, no longer caring about the part that someone was watching. Though, via the mirror, he could see the flash of disappoint in that expression and smirked. "And why are you here? Shouldn't you be out with your friend?"

"I was with him all night, being apart for a little while won't kill him." Tsuna smirked and jumped up onto the counter to cross his legs.

At that, Reborn couldn't help but snort, "I bet you were doing more just being with him."

"Oh? Is that jealousy I sense?" The demon chuckled, watching as the hunter stepped into the shower. "If I had known, I would have offered to let you join us. Make it a lovely threesome."

"Fuck no," Reborn's voice was a little muffled from the running water, but the meaning was clear. He placed some shampoo into his hair and rubbed it viciously through the locks, trying to make sure that he got the surds everywhere. He didn't want to miss a spot at all and when he was satisfied, he ducked his head under the running water to wash it all away. "Now go away. I'm taking a shower. Go play with your pet dog."

Tsuna's eyes narrowed slightly at that, his aura shifting, which Reborn noticed immediately. "He's not a pet dog."

The hunter simply smirked and when the shampoo was all out, he opened the curtain slightly to peek out. "Tsuna, when he was talking to you, he looked like he was going to start wagging his tag. And he had that look on his face like you were his master. That is a look of a dog."

There was a pause on the incubus as if trying to figure out a retort to that. But nothing came. Tsuna pouted at that and folded his arms.

Reborn laughed at the expression, rubbing a hand through his hair to prevent the locks from falling into his face. "If it makes you feel better, I can call Hayato a pet wolf instead."

"That doesn't make me feel any better."

Shaking his head, the hunter went back to his shower, reaching for the conditioner at the side. He listened intently as he heard Tsuna shift and run out the door. Reborn didn't know why until he heard some voices on the other side of the bathroom door, figuring that his companion had stopped the half-Fezeh from coming inside. Well, at least Tsuna was decent to not let anyone else come bother him.

* * *

The car ride over had been somewhat odd, Reborn admitted. This time he had two demons riding with him and man, do they love to chatter. Hayato seemed to brighten up the moment Tsuna started talking to him, mentioning about a 'Baseball Idiot', that the hunter had been able to connect to be Takeshi, coming in during work and ruining everything. They talked about the so-called castle they lived within along with a couple of others, Takeshi being one of them. Still, regardless of how much he tried to hint and direct the conversation into revealing more about Tsuna's place, he got nothing but small useless bits.

Still, to Reborn, the half-Fezeh still felt more like a dog in the way he acted with Tsuna and the hunter swore that if the other transformed, those extra limbs like the tail would be wagging eagerly. It was just as he had expected from before during the bathroom.

Soon after, the two demons went into Earthling culture like the clothes Hayato was wearing to the food they had managed to try out. Reborn quickly found out that Tsuna had a tendency to go towards the sweets area and enjoyed playing games. Sadly, he had a strong suspicion that the games the incubus liked to play involved sex of some kind. 'Looks like I'll have to be extra careful to not get caught up in any of them.'

"You've always loved sweets. If you like, Tenth, I can get you some from Hell." Hayato smiled brightly, almost wanting to jump up from his seat from behind.

The brunet just waved his hand softly and smiled. "It's alright, but if you have time, that would be wonderful. I've been somewhat missing my favorite snacks."

"Don't worry, Tenth. It's no problem at all. I can even get some of your clothes from below as well."

"Ah, no, I'm good. These are fine."

Hayato seemed to pout at that. "But, Tenth…" The silver-haired man had his eyes drifting down to Tsuna's revealing garbs and narrowed them slightly.

Tsuna just chuckled, knowing the hidden meaning at those looks. "It's fine, I'm quite comfortable in these. And don't worry, I can watch out for myself."

"If Tenth says so."

'Yep, what a weird car ride.' Reborn thought to himself as he tried to concentrate on driving. But listening to the constant conversation in the back was interesting, it gave him something to do throughout the boring ride.

* * *

Reborn yawned, wanting nothing more than to stretch. It had been an easy day, very relaxing if it wasn't for the unnecessary inputs from the half-Fezeh. But other than that, it had been a good day.

The Bogles itself wasn't a hard enemy to kill, a few bullets here and there, and it was over. Hayato, of course, hadn't been impressed and seemed to continue arguing with the hunter over certain matters. Tsuna just remained at the side and sighed at the sight, shaking his head. Well, this was better than them being at each other's throat.

Still, afterwards when they head back to his place, it had been one interesting thing after another. Hayato started yelling about refusing to leave his precious Tenth anywhere with Reborn and claimed he wanted to stay. Of course, Tsuna hadn't been all that glad on that either and began to argue back.

Reborn was placed off to the side, watching as the two demons refused to give in, and sipped quietly on his espresso happily. It was interesting to say, his days hadn't been boring once since the arrival of Tsuna into his home. Still, sometimes the craziness that he got involved in was a little bit tiring.

He raised an eyebrow when he saw a small blue light at the side, wondering in the back of his mind on what it could be, and placed his drink down onto the counter. It gained the attention of the two demons, going silent, and eyed the spot judiciously. That blue light grew wider into something he recognized, a portal, and was about to go for his gun, thinking that it was an enemy trying to teleport in when he saw _who_ was coming out. His black eyes peered over the other man, Takeshi, stepped out, looking the same as always with a large grin over his face. Immediately, the Nokk began to laugh at the sight before him, drawing the attention of the other two.

Reborn looked over the man's appearance, finding him dressed differently than the last time they met. He was no longer wearing that suit, but instead something that looked like from kendo, Japanese, in nature. The pants were baggy and ruffled as lines and the shirt's sleeves were hanging low with a slit at where the armpit would be, probably to allow more free movement.

"Maa, maa, this reminds me of the old days," Takeshi stepped closer with his arms above his head and looked over his two friends. Tsuna offered a small smile, heading over to give the other a quick hug, and a peck on a single cheek. Reborn blinked at the greeting. The Nokk didn't seem to mind and patted the incubus on the back affectionately before turning his attention to the half-Fezeh. "But come on, Hayato, you can't be bothering poor Tsuna. He's a big boy after all."

"Takeshi, don't make me hit you." Tsuna growled, snapping his tail behind angrily, and gave a light punch at the side regardless of what he said.

"That's right, baseball idiot! Tenth isn't a big boy, he's a brilliant demon! He's a King after all, respect him!"

Reborn froze at that as he listened into the conversation. 'King?' He narrowed his eyes at the announcement. If he remembered correctly and guessing on the hierarchy, weren't Kings a really high position in any world? His eyes drifted towards Tsuna once more, knowing again that the other was hiding plenty of things from him. But he should have identified that already, it was too clear at times.

He was about to open his mouth to voice his question when Takeshi quickly grabbed the half-Fezeh at the back of the neck and began dragging him away towards the portal without much trouble. Reborn listened to the various curses, many in another language, and watched as Hayato repeatedly struggled to get away before disappearing into the same entrance Takeshi had come out of. Soon after they disappeared within, the gateway closed off, leaving the room in silence. The hunter turned to the incubus, who was looking back at him with a soft smile, curiously with an eyebrow raised.

Shrugging his shoulders, Tsuna just shook his head, "This is normal. Get used to it. Expect them to be back soon."

Reborn couldn't help but sigh. "I should have known."


	15. Mission 6

Tsuna yawned, he was bored, seriously and completely bored. He had been waiting eagerly for Reborn to come out at any time to announce they had a new mission because anything would be more interesting than how it was now. The TV could only entertain him for so long and the books Reborn had lying around didn't need to be read over again. Even the internet got repetitive after a while. 'Maybe I should go out and explore the human community.' But Reborn might throw a fit if he tried, well, it couldn't hurt to ask after all. No, wait, he didn't really need to ask now, did he? Smiling, the brunet got up from his spot to let Reborn know he was leaving when the hunter suddenly stepped out into the hallway, holding a set of papers.

"Got a new mission."

Tsuna blinked and tilted his head at the same time. What were the chances of that happening? "How funny."

Reborn raised an eyebrow at that response, expecting many other things besides that. "What?"

"Nothing, just some thoughts I had," The brunet stepped closer and went behind to peek over Reborn's shoulder. His tail momentarily wrapped around the remote to turn off of the TV and tossed it back onto the couch. Reborn raised an eyebrow at the small display, but ignored it, focusing on the mission papers at hand. "This doesn't seem all that great, honestly."

"I thought so as well, not only that, I have a bad feeling about this mission and it isn't about the demon that's supposed to be dwelling there," Reborn huffed, handing the papers over while he moved to the kitchen to get himself a cold stiff drink, pulling out one of the many bottles of alcohol that was stored within the cabinets. "The reward money is off for something like this. It appears to be just a simple job."

"Same here. It's a Eurynomus, he's easy to kill if you have the right bait and weapons." Tsuna sat down at the counter, Reborn on the other side, sipping slowly on his rum. The hunter enjoyed the burning sensation of the alcohol going down his throat and felt himself loosening up, feeling slightly at peace. He had gotten far too used to having Tsuna living in the same house as him; he wasn't even bothering to put up barriers to protect himself anymore. He had long given up on doing so, knowing that the brunet would still be able to sneak by them to get into his bed.

Though, Reborn hated to admit it, he had been getting a better sleep these days with Tsuna around, knowing that the other would keep an eye out for him while he was in dreamland. It was a nice thought and gesture, being able to fully sleep and not have to worry about being attacked during the middle of the night despite the barriers that were supposed to be protecting him. Tsuna's constant presence of being curled up against him during the night made him feel reassured.

"But the Eurynomus feeds on the dead, don't you need a dead body to draw him out?" Reborn commented, leaning against the counter lazily, his spiky black hair pointing out in different directions since it wasn't confined under his fedora. Said hat was currently on the counter, left forgotten by the human.

"Well, considering it's close to a graveyard, I wouldn't be surprised if it's prowling around. However, I do find it odd that it would be so far away from its source of food."

"This mission just screams suspicious," Reborn chugged the last bit of his stiff drink and slammed the glass down, shaking his head as the drink began to affect him. It was just what he needed. "Apparently, what's been going on is that those that go in don't come out. And so, the reward money gets raised each time someone is killed. So people are dying, but no one knows how or why and, eventually, it was sent over to me to take up."

Tsuna narrowed his eyes at that. "That sounds extremely suspicious. There might be more than one demon. When are we leaving?"

"Within two to three hours, it's the next town over so if we leave around then, it'll be just reaching sundown. After that, we'll just stay at a hotel."

"Sounds good with me. I'd offer flying us there, but if we're spending the night, who cares?"

The hunter could only shake his head at that.

* * *

Reborn looked over the area curiously with an eyebrow raised. He could smell it, the scent of blood and death. For it to be this strong…he grinded his teeth together at the thought, shaking his head. Just how many hunters had come here only to lose their lives before he came along? The area was forested and had a church on one side of the place, the other a graveyard. His dark eyes peered below towards the ground and felt a little sick at the sight. The ground had a light color of red tinted on it, the leaves of the grass and trees had blood that was still fresh dripping off and reflecting the moonlight from above. Each step he took was a mixture of a crunch and swish sound.

Tsuna, on the other hand, was peering around the place carefully, knowing that Reborn beside him was on edge. He could smell over a hundred bodies that were killed here, the scent of blood completely overwhelming, and he wiggled his nose in frustration. It was hard to smell anything else, even the demon that was supposedly killing everyone here. Taking a deep breath, he raised a hand up to twirl his fingers, creating a spell. At that movement, a strong gust of wind blew through the area, quickly eradicating the stench, or at least, lessening it. Reborn took a deep breath of the just-cleaned air and sighed, feeling better now that he wasn't able to smell the thick presence of blood.

The demon twitched and immediately stepped in front of Reborn, who didn't understand the sudden defensive state his partner had gone into. It was odd for the other to do such things. Normally, he didn't care…unless of course the situation was graver than he'd originally thought. Reborn tensed and reached for his gun, getting himself ready for anything. Had his suspicions been correct on this mission? "Tsuna, what is it?"

The demon sneered in frustration, ready to blast a few spells towards the surrounding bushes, with eyes glancing all around prudently. "Well, you're not going to like this, but it wasn't a demon that was killing the hunters."

That made Reborn pause. "Not a demon? Then what?" Tsuna didn't reply, and he didn't need to. The hunter had suddenly noticed the shifting movements in the darkness and was able to make out the figures that were slowly revealing themselves. It was clear that there was only one other suspect that would be killing the hunters now that they were out in the open.

"Reborn, do I need to let you know that we're surrounded by your fellow humans?"

"No, you don't." The hunter sneered to himself as he sensed multiple people in the surrounding. He watched them step out of the trees and bushes, all of them carrying items of harm. Axes, knives, guns, it was all there and many more. Reborn narrowed his eyes when he spotted blood on them, some still fresh. He cursed lightly, not used to taking on his fellow kind often like this and growled. There were symbols on the clothes, things he didn't recognized, but the meaning of them was clear. 'Must be some sort of worshippers for a cult or something.'

Tsuna made a small snarl, getting ready to attack at any moment. "They must have jumped the previous hunters before you. Do you want me to hold back?"

"No, kill them."

"Understood." And the demon attacked. Tsuna whipped through the air, wings spread out wide, and began to mow down the bodies. His hands, his claws, cut through the soft flesh, splitting bodies apart into pieces. There was some startled gasps and then a scream. However, it was silenced when Reborn took aim and fired. It was then that everyone began to move. The foolish human worshippers began to attack, trying to kill off the partners, while Reborn used his gun to eliminate as many people as possible. He made no hesitation in aiming to create fatal wounds, not caring if they survived or not. Tsuna kept himself close by to take care of any that got too close to Reborn while using magic to take care of the rest. It was easier this way after all. The enemies were simple humans, easy and quite brainless, compared to the demons they had to face together. Tsuna grabbed a person, his fingers tearing through the clothes and flesh together, and threw him aside towards another group before setting the entire pile of humans on fire. He ignored the screams and yells and before long, it was all over as their flesh turned into charcoal and ash. Humans held no chance against a demon after all, at least, those that weren't prepared.

Reborn looked over the field once it became silent and finally relaxed when the brunet came up to him. "Is it over?"

"Yeah, it is. I don't sense anyone alive in the surrounding area," The demon took a quick sniff of the air to confirm everything. "They must have a place somewhere around here where they were taking the bodies unless they were burying them in the grounds below, which I doubt."

Reborn hummed to himself in agreement and nodded his head. He had seen no bodies, no shifted gravel, nothing of the sort that would show what had happened around here. So that meant that the bodies were elsewhere, moved from where they had been killed. His eyes turned to the church nearby, already suspecting it. Could it be possible that that place was where the worshippers were keeping the bodies? Well, there was only one way to find out. Motioning the demon to follow him, they headed towards the old building that seemed to be slightly falling apart. It obviously hadn't been used for a long time or up-kept and many of the walls were corroding from the weather. But there had been a pause in Tsuna's steps, a sign that the hunter was heading in the right direction.

"I smell a lot of blood emitting from that area and the scent of rotting flesh." The demon muttered, catching up to ensure the human didn't go anywhere dangerous without him. His wings were put away as well as the horns and he was back in his human appearance, except for his tail that was wrapped around his waist comfortably. As they came up to the large doors, Tsuna stepped forward and shoved them open with ease, going in first to check out the area. When he deemed it safe, he motioned Reborn to follow, and headed deeper into the large setting. The chairs that hadn't been broken were all lined up to the side and it seemed like it had been raided in the past by thieves. The statues were broken, no paintings in sight, and the pillars had been colored. However, other than that, it was quite clean…until Tsuna look notice of a door. "Over there, Reborn."

The door itself was wooden, the oldness evident in the splinters that were popping up, and was tilted the side from the hinges. What gave it away were the bloody handprints on the knob, a sign that there was something behind. Tsuna went forward, taking the metal into the palm of his hand. Twisting the knob, he pushed open the door, listening to it creak, and saw Reborn beside him almost gag. The stench of rotting was strong, enough so to make him back away for a moment to focus. There were some burning candles that gave light to the dark room and the contents made it obvious as to what was going on within the church.

"It looks like they were trying to do some sort of ritual," Tsuna peered over the room, looking over the bloodied corpses and numerous drawings that were sketched onto the walls. Some of the paint was dripping off, but the symbols were still clear to the eyes. "I've never seen such a thing before. This doesn't summon anything."

Reborn thoroughly looked over his surroundings as well, taking in the rest of it, the masks and the various needles that were spread throughout. It didn't look pleasant at all to his eyes and the candles didn't light very much. And the stench of dried blood and rotting body parts made him want to gag the further he went in. It was terrible, it was like his throat and nose were burning in pain. Still, he continued further into the place to investigate and looked at the corpses that were pushed against the wall at the back of the room. Using the tip of his shoe, he shoved a few here and there and sighed when he came up to one.

The demon stepped behind curiously, having heard the sound. He seemed to have grabbed something to hide behind his back. "What is it?"

"It's one of the men that were assigned to this mission."

"Oh."

Reborn pulled back, knowing and guessing that the rest of the missing people were probably within this pile, either cut up or in a whole piece. It didn't matter, he had seen enough to know what had happened. Pulling away from the sight, he walked out of the room and took a breath of the clean air outside, relieved that he was finally out of there.

Tsuna was behind, stepping around the hunter to look into the dark eyes, and tilted his head. "Do you want me to burn it down?" He didn't get a verbal response, just a simple nod of the head, and went along with Reborn's wishes. Turning towards the room, he outstretched his right hand and flames began to form around his fingers, growing larger as seconds passed. Before long, it was swirling around his entire arm and he shot it towards the area, immediately engulfing the entire place. It was contained to not alert anyone else of what was going on, but the fire did its job. The wood and walls burned, crumbling down at the intense heat. Everything that was inside vanished under the rubble, hiding the evidence of what had happened and soon, only ashes remained. "It's been done."

"Good. Now I just need to report what happened," The hunter quickly took out his phone and sent off a message that everything had been completed, wanting nothing more than to head to the hotel. He needed some rest, seeing dead humans that he had once worked along with wasn't pleasant to his mind. As he laid out the report, he didn't see Tsuna wandering around in the back, looking around the area curiously, until he felt a tap. Turning around, he peered down at the brunet, just finishing off the rest of his message, and closed the phone. "Yeah?"

"We should get out of here before someone returns."

"Ah, yes. Let's go." However, just as they were stepping away from the place and outside, Tsuna gave a cunning smirk that Reborn immediately noticed and suddenly spread out his wings, taking flight into the air while grabbing the hunter at the waist. He listened to a muffled yell from the human and chuckled in amusement, quickly flapping his wings to get some distance into the sky. He made a quick twirl in the air, watching from the corner of his eyes as Reborn desperately clung to his shoulders as well as his fedora to prevent it from flying off, before landing at the top of the church. There was a passing look of confusion on the hunter, not understanding what was going on, and he pulled back slightly with an eyebrow raised. Tsuna didn't say anything and continued to move, heading into the sealed off bell area where no stairs or pathway could get to. Reborn was dropped to the floor of the room and peered around the area, knowing that escape from this place would result in either lots of bruises or broken bones.

"Reborn," The hunter looked up at that, glancing towards Tsuna curiously. He immediately shifted back when he saw that evil grin on the face. "Let's play a game."

"A…game?" Reborn didn't like that look, not at all. It reminded him of too many things, and they were all bad. Taking a step back once he'd managed to stand, he got ready for an attack, knowing Tsuna would probably use force to get what he wanted.

"You owe me. I've been helping you quite a bit and I've been really bored. So how about a game?"

The hunter watched the other pout as he spoke and then sighed. It was true, he owed Tsuna for helping him during the attack and afterwards. There were also some unmentioned debts from previous missions when the demon hadn't asked for anything afterwards. He might as well go along with it. Either way, he probably would with the way the demon was eyeing him. "And what does this game consist of?"

"How long it takes for you to give up?"

"Give up?" He raised an eyebrow at that and snorted. "I don't give up, that's just for idiots. There are certain circumstances that I know it'll be allowed, but most of the time, it shouldn't."

Tsuna had that hopeful look in his eyes as he stepped closer. "Does that mean you'll play it with me?"

"I don't have much of a choice, do I?"

"Of course not!" The brunet grinned brightly and suddenly jumped onto Reborn's body, wrapping his arms around the hunter's neck to hold himself upright. His tail was out to wrap around Reborn's right leg and the grin on Tsuna's face was absolutely predatory, it gave the hunter a strong foreboding feeling. And before he realized it, he found himself on the ground and his hands bound above his head. The hunter blinked as he took in his situation and then at the demon that was straddling his hips with a wide grin.

'Shit!' Reborn cursed and immediately tried to struggle, but the black substance that the ropes were made out of didn't budge. It was the same substance Tsuna had used on him before. He growled, glaring at the demon, and tried to move away, but to no prevail. "Just what are you planning?"

"We're playing the game. You're not allowed to escape." Tsuna licked his lips as he examined the body below him, running his fingers into the openings of the button-up shirt before tearing it apart. He could hear some curses thrown his way for that, but ignored it all as he let his fingernails scrape along the warm skin. A shiver went down Reborn's spine and he grinded his teeth together to prevent a hiss from escaping his lips. Tsuna simply chuckled in amusement and leaned over to press their lips together, quickly raising his right knee up to get the other to open. Reborn tried to prevent a moan from escaping as that tongue brushed up against his own and map out his insides. He could already feel himself getting engulfed by those charm spells Tsuna emitted around him and fought back in the midst, tangling their tongues together. A moan eventually came out as that evil knee rubbed against him just right, massaging into his groin so painfully good.

The brunet eventually pulled back, licking his lips, and reached behind his back to grab something. He smirked as his fingers grasped whatever was hidden and, sadly for Reborn, the human was unable to see what Tsuna had due to his restraints and mentally hoped to himself that whatever game this was going to turn out to be wouldn't be too bad. Though, he was absolutely certain that he was going to have sex no matter what. The problem was how?

"I guess I'll be able to use one of my favorite toys," Tsuna's cunning voice sent shivers down the hunter's spine, knowing full well those words meant terrible things to him. He swallowed and watched the demon lean over again, this time holding onto a…candle? Reborn blinked at the sight of the item before paling. He _now_ knew exactly how this game was going to turn out. "I take it you know what candle play is, right?"

"Damn you," Reborn could do nothing but watch as Tsuna stripped him down, leaving him completely exposed to the world around and to that candle. He wanted nothing more than to back away, to get some distance from the flame and yet the ropes refused to budge an inch, effectively trapping him. Tsuna's grin grew at the sight and used his tail to hold the candle up while his hands spread Reborn's legs apart. The hunter sneered, "You better not put that candle anywhere near my ass."

Tsuna could only chuckle at that. “Not planning to, I have other ideas for it.” His fingers wrapped around the warm mass and gave a tight squeeze, getting Reborn to moan softly. His fingertips rubbed along the tip, flicking it teasingly, and got his body to settle between the spread legs. Tsuna watched as the limbs tensed down onto the ground, knowing fully well that the human was trying to get his bearings on the situation. Tsuna simply continued, prodding the entrance with no resistance and entered a single digit without using any saliva or lube. Reborn winced slightly as he was forced into, tensing down on the intruder, before relaxing the moment Tsuna began to pump him from above. He let out a strangled cry when the demon stuck out his tongue and gave a long lick from the bottom to the top.

“T-Tsuna…” Reborn bucked his hips, wanting more, but was held down by the other hand, watching as the brunet continued to play with him. That devious tongue circled around the top, sending more spikes of pleasure up his spine, and clenched his fingers into a fist. His mind was starting to get hazy and it only got worse when that finger aimed for his prostate, rolling his head back slightly to look up at the ceiling. A low moan came from the back of his throat and then a louder one followed when Tsuna swallowed him whole. It was impossible to concentrate on anything as Tsuna bobbed his head up and down, his tongue working its way around. Reborn could only think of the heat that constantly surrounded him and was barely aware of another finger slipping inside, being stretched. The pleasure was just too overwhelming just like before when Tsuna had first taken him and he could already feel himself slipping at it.

The brunet almost wanted to laugh at the sight before him, the number one hunter in the world was now groaning loudly, almost screaming, as he hit those nerves and giving the member a good suck at the same time. It was amusing to see the prideful man fall into pleasure once more, knowing very well the other was probably not too happy about receiving it again, but was enjoying it nonetheless. It wasn’t as if Reborn had an option not to. Tsuna raised his head away, licking his lips as he looked over the hunter’s form. He watched as Reborn’s chest rapidly raise and fall, eyes staring up at the ceiling before closing. They reopened to look at the honey-colored eyes curiously, his mind pulling itself back together. Tsuna chuckled and pulled his two fingers out, not really bothering on stretching the human all that effectively, and unzipped his shorts to continue onto the next round. The candle wrapped in his tail was still burning, the wax dripping down the side, and Reborn’s spread legs were hanging limply on the ground.

“I’m going to make sure you enjoy this Reborn. I’ll be nice and get us both to the hotel once you’d mostly likely collapsed.” Tsuna shifted his tail forward, tilting the candle slightly to let the wax drip off instead of going down onto his skin.

“That’s very kind of you.”

“I must be,” Without a second thought, the demon entered Reborn, pushing his way through. A shocked yell escaped the hunter, flipping his head back as he tried to control himself, and struggled vividly in his restraints. Curses were already being thrown around, but Tsuna didn’t care. He continued to push forward, well aware that there was now blood tainting the air, and once he was in all the way, stopped to allow Reborn to adjust. More curses were thrown wildly, Reborn’s breathing pained and ragged. “I’ll also be kind and heal you up after this.”

That didn’t stop the curses and the threats that were being made though. Tsuna ignored it all and shifted his tail closer to grab the still burning candle. The other hand held Reborn down, leaving a slight red mark on the skin, and moved his right hand, which was holding the item, to hover over the human’s chest. Reborn immediately shut up, eyes watching all movements carefully, and grinded his teeth together.

“Don’t tell me you’re planning on letting the wax burn me…” Reborn grumbled, feeling the pain below lessening and his body calming down. He didn’t get an answer and watched as a single droplet of the wax fell off the candle and land right on his stomach. Immediately, a hiss escaped his lips, the heat painful and scorching. It wasn’t enough to burn his skin, just enough to mark it. “Stop…”

“Give up?” Tsuna simply smiled and tilted the candle further to allow more droplets to fall. He watched as Reborn’s body was quickly decorated in white patches, listening to the cries with glee. It was wonderful, absolutely wonderful. When he didn’t get an answer for his question, Tsuna shifted his body out of the moist heat below and pushed right in. Reborn’s body jumped at the sudden thrust, letting out a hearty moan as that bundle of nerves was slammed into. He saw white stars in his vision and pleasure was pulsing throughout his entire body.

Tsuna quickly went into a fast pace, pulling in and out repeatedly, and continued to burn Reborn happily. Soon, he switched hands, the right now wrapped around the candle and left holding onto the hunter’s thigh. He made sure to angle his thrust in time with each droplet, watching as Reborn crumbled down from the combination. When there was too much wax on the body, no spots to use, Tsuna would simply crack the cooled droplets and scrape it off to restart.

“It’s hot! It’s hot, dammit!” Reborn screamed out repeatedly, trying to edge his body desperately away from the scorching wax that dribbles onto his abdomen. Coupled with Tsuna still moving inside of him, aiming for his prostate directly each and every time, he wasn’t sure if he was yelling out from the pain or pleasure. Most likely a combination of both.

“Of course it’s hot,” Tsuna smirked, tightening his grip with his left hand on the pale hip, and watched as the white wax burned and fell down in small drops. As it landed on the skin, tinting it a bright red, before the wax cooled off and crusted over. Each drop left a mark and with Reborn’s hands tied up above his head, he was unable to move away from anything much less resist. “Doesn’t it feel great? Its making you feel hotter, yes?”

“Damn you!” Reborn let out a hefty moan, body shaking repeatedly, as Tsuna pounded further into his body. And the demon was right, the wax made him feel only hotter, complimenting the warmth that was already pooling below. The pressure only grew, getting unbearable, and he could feel himself getting woozy as the pleasure only grew. It felt good and he hated that fact. He threw his head back to scream and his legs tightened around Tsuna waist, drawing the demon closer and pushing him deeper inside.

The flame on the candle continued to burn brightly, the wick going further down as the wax melted away. The droplets fell all over, Tsuna moving his hand back and forth to ensure an even distance.

“T-Tsuna!” The hunter moaned louder, his breathing already ragged, and he had long given up on getting his hands free from the bounds. He could hear those sinful sounds of flesh meeting flesh, their bodies slapping together, and his moaned seemed to echo in their little place. His mind was starting to fall into the pleasure, his resistance weakening at each thrust, and he moaned only louder as he arched his back at the hot wax. “Fuck!”

Tsuna grinned evilly, leaning over. “I can do that, you know. Though, I already am.”

Reborn tried to glare, but failed as the pleasure came back to him at full force and his toes curled behind Tsuna’s back. His body had already fallen, working against him, as it tried to gain more of that wonderful heat that seemed to want to burn him alive. It was so good and he wanted nothing more than to just give in again like before. His memories of that time may be blurry, but the pleasure he had felt, the repetitive wonderful pleasure, had stained his body for all eternity.

With one more quick thrust, the hunter came with a shaky cry, his strength leaving him as his essence sprayed across his chest. The candle pulled back for a moment, the fire still burning, and Tsuna’s eyes were staring into his own. “Give up?”

It took a few moments for Reborn to finally be aware of his surroundings, slipping away from the wonderful orgasm he just had, and he shook his head. "N-Never…"

"That's fine with me. That just means I get to play with you some more," Tsuna grinned, tilting the candle over to restart their little game. "I'll make you surrender one way or another. And we have all the time to do so." He shifted his hips again, thrusting in and out of that moist heat, enjoying it immensely as he watched Reborn scream again. "And don't worry, I'm not going to let you grow tired. We have hours to go through before I bring you over to the hotel."

The hunter almost let out a whimper at that, already knowing for a fact that he was doomed at this rate. There was no escape from this demon, he would fall sooner or later in this game. It was only a matter of time. And Tsuna had all eternity to play with him.


	16. Mission 7: Part 1

Reborn groaned softly as he shifted in the bed sheets, almost feeling like he was going to start growling at the sun for interrupting his peaceful slumber. Turning slightly to move away from the blasted light, he settled back into the comforter, wanting nothing more than to head back into dreamland. Except…he couldn't. A sharp pain from down below and the lingering smell of candle wax kept him awake, forcing him to evade resting. Rolling onto his back, the hunter slowly opened his eyes and stared straight at the unfamiliar ceiling with blurry eyes. It took him a few moments to get his brain to start working, the gears within moving, and realize that this was not his bedroom, but a hotel. It was plain like any other hotel, fully furnished, but not the best.

'Looks like Tsuna actually brought me in.' Reborn sighed, running a hand through his hair and slowly sat up, trying to contain the wince that followed. His entire body was sore and he could still feel the haunting burning sensation of hot wax on his abdomen, scorching his entire body in flames. The sheets fell down around his waist, curving around him just right. He made an attempt to stretch, satisfied when he could only do it halfway. It couldn't be helped, he was sore enough already and didn't want to make his condition any worse. Yawning, he pulled his legs over the bed, letting them hang towards the carpeted floor, and just sat to get used to everything. Reborn didn't want to move at all, he didn't want to do anything but go back to sleep. But he knew he needed a shower to clean himself off…wait…did he?

At that, Reborn checked over his body and found that, indeed, he had been cleaned up. There were no bite marks, no scratches, no pain, no nothing. It was like there was no evidence of what had happened last night except for the soreness below. Even his hair was all nice and soft, evidence that he had been showered completely with shampoo and conditioner. 'If I'm all clean, why the hell am I getting up for?' With that in mind, he simply flopped back into bed and let the coolness of the sheets ease him up.

However, just as he did so, the door opened and Reborn immediately snapped his eyes up towards the blended-in demon. Tsuna was carrying a tray in his humanoid form and, from the hunter's point of view, Reborn couldn't exactly see what was on top. Still, the demon spotted him instantly and smirked. "I see you're finally up. I got you something by the way. Knew you would be hungry by the time you woke up."

Tsuna stepped closer and placed the tray onto Reborn's other side, revealing the contents to the other. The human peered over it carefully and couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the sight before him. He could see a large cup of coffee, a small bowl of various cut fruits, and toast with a little bit of butter on top. There was a medium-sized crepe that had blueberries and sweet cream mixed inside with powdered sugar on top of the mess of food. Right next to the crepe was a breakfast sandwich that had four crispy slabs of bacon, cheddar cheese, and eggs all crammed inside.

"Ah," Tsuna's voice made Reborn pause, listening in. "Before you say or think of anything, that isn't coffee. It's an espresso."

The hunter stared at the drink, wondering how the other managed to get such a large cup. Most people only gave tiny ones at the stores. Just how much had everything cost? "Did you cook this?" He hoped not, because as far as he knew, Tsuna knew nothing about human food. He didn't want to risk tearing up his own stomach much less throwing it up in disgust.

The demon just chuckled, settling down beside the bed, and let his tail pop back out. "Absolutely not. I went out and got someone else to do all of this. I doubt I would know about what's good to eat and what isn't. Though, I had to scare a human to grab his money to pay for all of this. Hope you don't mind."

Reborn just laughed, sitting up to lean against the head of the bed. He didn't know why he was finding this funny, but it was and he was enjoying this all the much more. Reaching over, he pulled the tray over onto his lap and began to dig in. He hadn't realized just how hungry he was until he took that first bite and began to devour the contents happily, finding it all tasting wonderful. Tsuna just smiled at that and flopped down onto the bed, curling up next to the human. With one flick of his finger, the curtains closed, leaving the room dark just as he liked it. Reborn didn't care, he liked the darkness much more than light, he dwelled in that area after all.

"So, when am I going to be able to have your body? I'm getting tired of you assaulting me." Reborn cut into the crepe, watching as the gooeyness inside oozed out. He licked his lips at the sight, knowing that this had been very well made. His nostrils could pick up the delicious smell of bacon from the sandwich as well.

Tsuna chuckled softly. "Who knows? I don't think I would mind if you took me at this point, but I believe you're much too tired to try anything."

The hunter hummed to himself before speaking. "So you wouldn't mind? Okay, next time we're having sex, I'm fucking you instead."

"You do that. But that is, if I let you. I'm not going to make it easy."

"So, a challenge," Reborn smirked, letting the fork hang on his lips. "I like challenges."

Tsuna just laughed.

* * *

"I got a call from an old friend of mine," Reborn announced one day in the morning, stepping towards Tsuna who had just entered the house. The brunet blinked in surprise and tilted his head before closing the door behind him, placing the little items he had bought to the kitchen. It was nothing much, just some human food he had wanted to try out, but he guessed his taste testing would have to be postponed. Stepping closer to the hunter, who was settled at the kitchen table, Tsuna let his tail reappear behind him and took a seat on the opposite side to listen. "His name is Fong, he's the storm Arcobaleno so I can't turn away a request of his. Anyway, he's calling for everyone to come back to give him a hand with his new mission."

"I see, where is it?"

"It's in China."

"Details?"

At that, Reborn paused for a moment, thinking deeply about the conversation he had with his old friend. "Apparently, when he first took the mission, he thought it was a simple extermination, however, he told me there were more demons than he could possibly handle and that they're growing in large numbers. The location is a huge temple compound that's supposed to be holy grounds, but demons have been attacking the place repeatedly," Tsuna hummed to himself, thinking about it, and nodded to let the other continue. "At this rate, the barrier that protects the place will crumble and over five hundred demons will attack, Fong won't be able to do anything against that large amount."

"And so, he's calling for backup to come give him a hand."

"Yes, we Arcobaleno help each other whenever needed," Reborn ran a hand through his hair, placing his fedora onto the table. "I won't be paid for this, sadly, however, I know when a friend needs help. And in turn, if I were to need help on a mission, they would in give a hand. It's like a good deal."

Tsuna nodded, understanding, he too had friends that he cared about and would go out of his way to protect. And luckily, the two of them had just finished their most recent mission so they would be free for the time being. "How fast do you need to get there?"

At that, Reborn raised an eyebrow before smirking. "As fast as possible, are you able to teleport us directly there?"

"No, I can't do that," Shaking his head, Tsuna continued, "I don't know the area so teleporting you directly to the temple is impossible, however, I can go to a location I'm more familiar and go from there."

"That's fine. I'll start packing. The closest city to the temple is Shanghai of China, it'll be a six-hour drive from there."

"Or less if I can fly both of us." Tsuna stood up along with Reborn, heading towards the dark room to look for a map, while the hunter went towards his room to pack his necessities and some clothes to change into.

"That's fine with me, but no stunts mid-air."

"Aww, that's too bad. It's more fun that way."

"No." Reborn grumbled, memories of what happened last time still fresh in his mind, despite knowing it had led to something else. Heading inside his room, he gave one last look at the demon before closing the door, getting everything he needed to be packed up. He made sure to grab the yellow pacifier and tuck it into his suit, thinking he might need it for this mission just in case. Tsuna simply pouted in disappointment before shrugging his shoulders and entered the closed off room with a small skip in his steps.

* * *

The trip was quick, Reborn decided, as he stepped into the middle of Shanghai a few seconds later when he had just been in his living room. He was carrying a luggage that contained a pair of clothes and most of the weaponry he would need for this mission. Due to the vast variety of demons he would be facing, he made sure to carry a little of everything and as much as he hated this, wouldn't be able to have Tsuna help him without giving the demon's true self away.

"Come on, let's move to a more opened area so I can pull out my wings." Tsuna muttered as they stepped into a crowd, ignoring the various looks they received. Most lingered on Tsuna, either because of how he was dressed or because of the lust he brought out of people, Reborn wasn't sure. Still, he placed an arm around the demon to bring Tsuna closer when a man got a little too touchy for comfort and sent a glare. The person shivered at the killing intent and backed off instantly, almost letting out a whimper in return. The brunet just chuckled in amusement. "You know, you don't really have to protect me. I can take care of myself."

The hunter smirked. "True, but humans can be surprising."

Tsuna once more hummed to himself in agreement and shifted closer to his partner, enjoying the warmth that was shared between their bodies. It was cool, the fall season, but it wasn't enough for either to grab a jacket. Well, for Reborn, Tsuna didn't even seem affected by the weather. As they passed compact stores and homes, they came to a large park that was abandoned without a single person in sight.

"Is this good?" Reborn asked carefully, looking around the area for any children or families, but he saw none, just emptiness. The equipment was rusted, the sand was more of a dirt color, and many of the items had been spray-painted. He took off his fedora and folded it, pocketing it under his jacket so that it wouldn't get blown away or get lost during the flight.

"Yeah, it is," Tsuna nodded and waved his hand in a familiar motion that the hunter noted was for a spell, probably to give them better coverage. The hunter could feel the shift in the air, a gust of wind blowing through the park, picking up dust along the way, before everything seemed to settle. When it finished, the demon spread out his wings, flapping them gently, and created a small gust of wind. "Much better." As he said that, he wrapped his arms around the hunter, making sure that Reborn had a firm grip on him before taking off into the air. Tsuna shot up as high as possible, quickly bypassing some of the low-lying clouds until most of the city was hard to identify from so high up. He remained still for a few moments, letting his wings continue to flap gently, before allowing himself to get caught onto the wind to start drifting. His eyes peered around the area, checking for something. "Which way?"

Reborn felt the wind breezing pass his face, making his hair dance around wildly, and his curls continued to brush against his cheeks. He was tempted to release part of his grip to push everything back, but thought against it. Looking around awkwardly from his position, he managed to identify the directions and spots he needed to pass and finally pointed towards an area. "That way, it's supposed to be behind those mountains."

"Got it." Immediately, Tsuna fluttered his wings, dashing off towards the direction. The wind slapped at him from how fast he was going, but he ignored it. No, he was enjoying the feeling of the wind against him. And having Reborn holding onto him with a death grip was amusing. But neither of them spoke, quickly making their way away from the city, passing by everything with ease, and went over the small forest that grew on the mountains. The landscape quickly got closer at each passing minute and they finally got near enough that Reborn could easily pick out the trees individually.

Tsuna shifted his wings so that they could go around the mountain top, not bothering to go above due to its height. The air was much thinner and he could feel Reborn's breathing becoming ragged as it tried to gather the oxygen it needed from the air. There was very little to take in, mostly carbon. Tsuna knew he couldn't remain too high and lowered the distance, able to feel the hunter's breathing lightening up in return. They flew by everything quickly, faster than a car could travel by, and passed over any obstacles that would have gotten in the way, such as traffic or accidents. What could have been considered a five-hour trip was being cut down to thirty minutes and it wasn't long before the temple was in sight in the distance.

Slowly, the demon made his way down quite a distance away from the temple, not wanting anyone to see him just because he got too close. His eyes were already going over the place, checking out the location, and stayed on one spot for a few moments before moving onto another. Reborn's grip on his neck tightened. "Reborn, there are a lot of demons here."

"I can tell," The hunter huffed, tensing in worry and annoyance. He couldn't see all of them, but he had spotted a few here and there that weren't hiding correctly. And the sensation of evil was radiating from everything, to the point where he couldn't pinpoint any spot exactly. As they touched the ground a little away from the previous, Tsuna let go of Reborn, letting him land on the ground first, but remained up in the air to keep a better eye on their situation. It was all too clear to the partners that they had been surrounded already, the eyes staring at them from within the darkness. Reborn already had his trusty gun out, ready for action. "Are these all low-level demons?"

"Yes, all of them," Tsuna muttered, still flapping his wings, and then growled dangerously before snarling out loudly, letting out a massive burst of demonic power around him. Immediately, the other demons scattered, dashing away in fear. "That should keep them away from you for a while, but we'd best hurry. They're quite hungry."

Reborn sighed, not happy with feeling like a slab of meat that will be preyed on by the demons out there, but continued, walking down the dirt pathway. He looked around the area, feeling some eyes on him now and then, but none dared to come too close with Tsuna at his side. The brunet had retracted his wings by then and was walking beside the human, holding a tight grip on the left arm, the right holding the luggage. The gates to the temple were coming closer, Reborn was happy to see them.

Suddenly, Tsuna stopped, as if frozen in place. The hunter raised an eyebrow at the strange occurrence and turned around to look back at the brunet, not sure on what was happening. It was odd to see something like that happen to the demon. "What is it?"

There was some hesitation on those features like he was frustrated and then growled. "I can't go any further than this."

"What?"

The demon peered around the area, checking things over before going back to the hunter. "I'm afraid I can't get through this barrier here, not without shattering it. And that's the worst thing to do at this current point of time," He sniffed a little as if checking something and then sighed, turning a little serious. "Reborn, be careful. I feel a very powerful being deep within this place, it's neither demon nor human. It's something else, but I can't put my finger on it. I'm certain I've felt this presence a long time ago. Regardless, it does not like demons and humans. If anything, that might be the thing that's been attacking the humans within the compound. So be careful until I get there, alright?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm going to try and break in, it might take a while due to how complex this barrier is, but I can get through. I can command the lower level demons to leave, but I'm certain more will keep coming. This powerful being is just drawing them in with its power," Tsuna sighed, pulling away from the hunter and pushed him forward. "But don't worry, I'll be fine. I'm more worried about you."

"I can take care of myself just fine," The hunter sneered, turning around to give a playful shove, before rotating back, stepping towards the compound. "I'll see you inside, alright?"

"Yeah, good luck. If you need help on something or need my information, come out here onto this main road. I'll find you myself."

Reborn simply nodded, taking out his fedora to place it respectively back onto his head, and continued towards the gates. He could see the gray stonewalls surrounding the area with a large set of doors as the only entrance and exit to the place. The interior of the area he had seen above in the air and the ground extended almost to the size of a giant football field, if not bigger, with multiple separate buildings all scattered around. A large courtyard was right where the entrance was at, filled with statues and stone schemes on the ground. It was a massive place, Reborn admitted, and was quite secluded from the rest of the world since it was so far away from the closest city or town. As he came up to the doors, he peered up at them carefully, eyeing the designs on them that were Chinese in symbol before giving the massive door a tentative push. It was like moving a giant rock, it didn't budge at all, which just left him to knock and hope that someone would actually hear him. And knock he did, except there was no answer as he expected.

His ears couldn't pick up any sounds of anyone coming towards the area and growled angrily in annoyance. 'Idiots, now how am I supposed to get in? I refuse to climb those damn walls.' Pulling out his gun from the hostler within his jacket, he pointed it up into the air and fired twice. The shots echoed in the air for a moment. It was like the world had gone still, before he yelled out, "Fong! You'd better open this goddamn door before I decide that blowing up this damn thing will be a better idea!"

And there, he finally heard some movement, the latch coming loose and the large door began to open almost like it was an automatic one. A familiar head poked out hesitantly and when they spotted each other, the other broke out into a welcoming smile. "Reborn, my old friend! It's so good to see you!" The door opened wider to let the man through, squeezing through the crack with some difficulties. Reborn examined his friend thoroughly, looking over the exhausted features and the baggy eyes on the face. It was clear that Fong hadn't had any night of good sleep, kept up by the constant attacks, and fighting for his dear life over and over again. The long black hair was tied up into a long braid, slightly messy and unkempt, which reached down to below his waist and long red robes of Chinese descendent hugged the thin frame. There were a few tears here and there on the garb, clear to Reborn that a demon with claws had come at him, but there were no peeks of white underneath, alerting him that the cuts hadn't gotten to the skin. The white pants were slightly dirty, probably from some dirt or dust, with the brown boots reaching up to below the knee.

"Yeah, yeah, Fong, skip the pleasantries. Let me in already," Reborn grumbled, moving closer to get inside, the Chinese man stepping back to allow entrance. "Am I the first one here or the last one?"

"Ah, in the middle actually," Fong chuckled, closing the door right behind, and peered over Reborn's appearance, an eyebrow raised. "Did you have any trouble getting here? There are a lot of demons out there, hiding in the darkness. It's no longer safe to head out of the grounds anymore without being attacked. Luckily enough, the barrier they have keeps most of the demons at bay, but not all."

"A little, but they were easy to take care of," Reborn huffed, continuing onward without a care, holding onto his luggage. "Who's here right now?"

"Colonello and Lal are, they were in Japan during the time I sent out the message since I sent out theirs a day before, and so was Verde. Viper, Skull, and Luce will be coming together later on. But I thought you were in Italy, that's quite fast for you to come here." Fong raised a suspicious eyebrow, it wasn't possible for Reborn to come that quickly after all, they were almost on opposite sides of the world. They would need at least a day's worth of time and that was if Reborn could find a plane that wasn't fully booked.

"Had some help in getting here, someone good with teleportation spells. Made things a whole lot easier, to be honest," Reborn muttered and made his way further into the temple grounds. After asking where he could drop off his stuff, he followed Fong behind into one of the compounds. "Is it still just as bad as you'd mentioned over the phone?"

"Afraid so."

"Damn."


	17. Mission 7: part 2

"Well, well, look who it is, kora!"

Reborn twitched as his eyes snapped towards the side where he could see a blond man standing at the corner, leaning over a couch. He had an idiotic grin on his face that made the hunter want nothing more than to punch it in. As his eyes travelled over the man before him, he took in the ragged military appearance where it looked like his old friend had been through hell. That was probably to be expected due to the numerous demons that were dwelling outside, just waiting for the chance to sink their teeth into their flesh. "I take it you had some trouble getting here, Colonello."

The blond just laughed, scratching the back of his head. "Guess it's too obvious," His bright blue eyes that looked exactly like the glorious sky outside the window darkened slightly as if remembering something before Colonello snapped himself back into reality. The bandana had a small tear in the corner, but it was still able to do its job of holding up the hair. The military jacket and pants had splotches of mud and blood, most likely from the demons, mixed around with the green, but regardless of the appearance, Colonello was in good health. "Lal and I were attacked on the way here, kora."

The hunter's eyes drifted to the female that was leaning on the couch, looking quite grumpy like normal. Her arms were crossed below her chest and she had a scowl straining her red lips. Long blue hair fell down her shoulders and the front bangs were held up by the goggles she enjoyed keeping around. Her outfit consisted of a military-style suit that was a light brown in color, comprising of a long-sleeved vest and shorts. The knee-high boots had a three-inch heel on the bottom, giving her an extra boost in height, and are pointed towards the end. Reborn would not be surprised to guess she used that to her advantages during the fights. However, her appearance was better when placed next to Colonello, her student. She only had a small tear on her hip that looked like it had come from a claw whereas the blond went through the entire forest on the ground. The difference in their strength was obvious to see when compared. "They're quite troublesome and there's too many for us to handle on our own. We eventually had to run towards the barrier they had to get ourselves away."

"We'd be in trouble if it wasn't there. What about you, kora?"

Fong closed the door behind the group, shutting everyone inside along with one more man who is in the far corner, typing away on his laptop. Reborn snorted, typical. Verde was a scientist, he wasn't much of a fighter in the first place, but there was no doubt that some of the inventions the madman created helped out during a fight with the demons. Many of his magic-infused bullets had come from Verde himself. The green-haired man barely glanced up towards the four, his eyes glued to the screen and only momentarily broke contact with the console to push his slipping glasses further up his nose. His fingers were going rapidly across the keyboard, almost like a blur, and he looked like he was about to laugh at any moment from the madness that was gleaming in his eyes.

The Chinese man sighed at the sight and made his way forward towards another couch that was beside the one Lal was sitting on. He settled down against the soft cushions, his hands within the long red sleeves and peered up towards everyone. They were enclosed and cut off from the rest of the world for privacy, they didn't want anyone eavesdropping on their conversations. "Well, I guess I should start explaining what's been going on. I would wait until the others are here, but there's no telling when they might appear and it's best to start our investigation on this place as soon as possible."

The group went silent and Reborn stepped forward, sitting on the other side of the couch. He leaned against the arm of the furniture, using it as a ledge for his chin, his eyes watching the man who was known as the storm Arcobaleno of the group. Colonello leaned against a wall, arms folded, and even Verde slowed his typing to listen better.

"As you're currently aware of, there's a massive swarm of demons dwelling on the outside of this temple. As I stated in the beginning, this was, at first, a simple extermination, but the numbers would grow each time I killed one demon. Before long, it became dangerous to even exit the grounds from their constantly growing numbers. The only thing that's stopping them from storming in is the barrier, but even that's beginning to flicker from the constant attacks against it. When it shuts down momentarily, demons would just pour in and fighting them off becomes difficult. Luckily, the barrier turns itself back on moments later and prevents anymore demons from coming in, but still, dealing with those that managed to get through has not been easy. Many of them have already lost their lives from attacks, the rest are hiding for their own safety." Fong paused to let the background of the situation settle into everyone's mind. He didn't want to overload anyone just yet.

"From what I've managed to get from the various priests around here, this is a holy temple that worships a special god. The barrier is coming from that supposed-god, at least, that's what the head priest said. However, whether or not this god actually exists or is just another false religion, I do not know. The priests here are willing to lay down their lives to protect this place, however, they don't have the skills and resources to defend," There was another pause, a dead silence passing over the group. Fong took a deep breath and held it in before finally letting it down. It was like all the previous tension that had been building up within his body was slipping away and he was starting to relax. Still, the information he had given to everyone was easy to understand. It was a serious situation, if anything happened, they too would be endangered. "I've managed to get some information during this time of course. Something within the grounds is drawing the demons here, but that's as much as I know. Most of the time, I've been stuck defending myself and others from various attacks."

"Well, with more people around, it'll be easier to divide the tasks among the five of us. While one or two defends the place, the rest can do the research," Verde stopped his typing altogether and had a professional glint in his eyes, pushing up his glasses further up. He gave a smirk and the light reflected off the lenses just right to prevent anyone from seeing his eyes. It was clear to everyone that he was interested in the background of this temple and would search out the reasons behind it until there was nothing left to uncover. "I believe it'll be obvious what I'll be doing while here."

Fong nodded to that in agreement, "Yes, I'll leave most of the investigation to Verde. He's better at that than any one of us. Luckily, I got to interrogate the head priest just yesterday and was told that there are about six storage houses within the compound that has information detailing back eight hundred years ago, and one more is outside of the grounds. I'm certain there should be something in there that might help our case here. It's the only thing I could find a lead on, sadly."

The sun Arcobaleno rubbed his chin, thinking, before standing up. He checked over his weaponry, making sure that everything was in order, and pulled his jacket back together. Everything was hidden once more and he flicked his fedora upward as he peered down at the rest of the Arcobaleno members. He knew he had everyone's eyes on him, but he didn't care. He already knew what he had to do, it was too obvious, and he was probably the only one that could do such a thing at this current point of time. Reborn rotated towards the storm Arcobaleno, nodded his head in respect, and spoke, "Give me the details to the outside compound, I'll head there on my own." To him, heading outside also meant he would be able to see Tsuna, the incubus. 'Perhaps the little demon has found something out. He is the ex-Marcket, after all.'

"Wait? What?" Fong immediately jumped up from his spot on the couch, slightly wobbling a bit from his quick movements, but remained strong. His eyebrows were narrowed in concern and his arms were slipping out of his robes, stepping forward. "I wouldn't recommend that at all. It's not safe out there. There's just too many for one person to take care of," He marched forward, his long robe fluttering behind, and stopped in front of Reborn with the full intention of stopping the other. Though they were around the same age and excelled in different styles, they respected each other's abilities and knew when to say something regardless if it would hurt the other's pride. "Look, we should be able to get all information we need from the six within the compound. There's no need to risk yourself to go out there."

Reborn didn't look convinced, he knew he was perfectly safe enough outside with Tsuna around, but it wasn't as if he could really tell someone that. Alerting everyone that there was a powerful demon lurking just outside the gates would only freak them out. "Don't give me that. Out of all of us, I'm probably the only one with the least amount injuries besides Verde," Fong would have flinched back, but held strong to his beliefs and concern. Out of all the Arcobaleno, he was the calmest of them all and the second in the most caring, the head boss being the first. The rest of the group simply remained quiet, watching carefully since they had learned long ago that Reborn was a stubborn man as well as the most powerful one. Even Colonello, who was the second loudest of the group, had his mouth shut. However, what caught their attention the most was the fact that this was a rare argument between the two. Reborn flicked his fedora upward, his eyes watching the other carefully. "Listen, I can handle myself perfectly fine. You're the one that needs to get some rest, you're completely exhausted. Lal and Verde can investigate the storages while Colonello keeps an eye out. He can switch with Lal every few hours. That should work for the time being until I get back."

Fong wasn't convinced and shook his head, his long braid fluttering with his movements. His eyes were closed sadly, worry clear on his features. "Reborn, please, you don't understand. We've already lost plenty of men that way. There are simply too many demons outside for you to take on if they all decide to come after you the moment you step outside the barrier. We are only human, despite being known as the Arcobaleno, we can still die and we're limited in our abilities."

The sun Arcobaleno almost wanted to sigh, pulling his fedora downwards to cover the annoyance in his eyes. He understood the concern, he was no fool. If he didn't have Tsuna, he too would be in trouble. It was impossible to go after that many demons and expect to survive. However, he needed to head out if he was going to investigate the outside and there was also the fact that he needed to see if Tsuna had learned anything in the meantime. "Fong, stop worrying about me. You're beginning to sound like Luce and anyway, I have someone outside that will give me a hand."

"Someone?" Lal voiced out with an eyebrow raised. There was someone outside waiting? It sounded ridiculous, why would anyone want to be out there anyway? Unless the person was a demon… "Wait a second…" The same thoughts seemed to course through everyone's thoughts, Colonello pushing himself away from the wall to take a few steps closer, his eyes filled with disbelief.

"That's right. That's why I'm not too concerned and was unharmed despite the fact that there were so many outside. He owes me anyway," Reborn snorted, refusing to give any more details than that. The last bit was a lie, but it would prevent anyone from further questioning his relationship with the demon. There was no need for them to know he was in a contract. He turned back to Fong. "Now, the directions to the place."

The Chinese man could only surrender to the other man's logic, handing over the information on a sheet of paper, handwritten. The directions were basic, nothing too complex except for the part they had to move through the overgrown forest to get to a field where the storage was located at. It had been placed there for a full reason that if anything were to happen to the main compound, from a fire to an earthquake, there was still something left to retrieve the old records from. With that, it was old and rarely used compared to anything else within the compound. Reborn would not be surprised to see the place falling apart from the weather and had to wonder about the contents within. There was no telling what sort of creatures had taken residence in the building. Reborn's eyes skimmed over the paper one more time before heading out of the room, everyone remaining silent behind. No one protested with his idea and he slammed the door shut behind, peering up at the sun that was bearing down on him. The warmth of it did little to his thoughts and he stepped forward to make his way out of the compound, no longer interested in being around any longer than necessary.

However, just as he was a few feet away from the entrance, he heard footsteps coming up from behind him, pitter-pattering across the stone ground. He groaned, recognizing who they could only belong to, and turned slightly to the side to peer back at the source of annoyance. There he saw Colonello, carrying his usual weapon of an anti-tank rifle over his right shoulder, heading straight towards him with the largest grin the blond could muster. Reborn remained still, allowing the other to catch up, but didn't say a single word over what the other was trying to do. He could already tell what the intention was. The so-called rain Arcobaleno, a title he shared with Lal because of an incident long ago, stopped in front and lifted his weapon up higher as a greeting. "Yo, kora!"

"What do you want?" Reborn huffed, making his way towards the entrance again with the full intention of ignoring the other. He didn't want him following, it would be more bothersome.

Colonello marched forward to keep up. "I'm coming with you, kora."

"I said before I don't need help."

"I know, but I'm curious about this little friend of yours. Everyone is, kora."

Reborn narrowed his eyes at that, but didn't bother to retort, knowing that Colonello was simply too stubborn to turn away. He shifted back to the front, pushing open the large wooden door to let himself out, and allowed his follower to close it. Without giving an ounce of concern, he walked straight onto the path, heading down the directed trail that would lead them towards the forested area where the storage was at. Colonello caught up from behind, tightening his hold on his weapon when he felt multiple eyes suddenly zooming straight at them. Both of them immediately tensed, suppressing a shiver from the hungry gazes, and their weapons were being pulled out for defense except Reborn placed his gun against his side soon after. He could sense Tsuna's presence close by and smirked.

"Tsuna!" Reborn called out into the open area, hearing his voice echo among the thick forest. His shoes rumbled through the pebbles and grass below his feet, creating more than enough sounds to alert everything within a certain area of his presence. Colonello flinched, not expecting the sudden shout, and tensed with his rifle out to fire at any moment. The black-haired man waited for a response from the demon and it came soon after. The bushes close by began to rattle and out stepped the brunet, hiding most of his body against the trees. He was dressed in his normal clothes without his horns or wings out, his honey-colored eyes gazing straight at the two humans. Pouting, Tsuna peeked further out, revealing more of his form and he snapped towards the blond with a slight narrowing of his eyebrows.

Colonello jumped at the glare, not expecting it, and watched as Reborn move closer as if familiar with the brunet, motioning the other to come out. To the blond, the person looked nothing more than an average person, the only thing that was stopping him from believing so was the fact that this Tsuna was out here with the rest of the demons. 'To think there are some demons that look exactly like a human…' Colonello thought as he went closer, his curiosity getting the better of him, and let his eyes drift over the entire frame.

Reborn shook his head at Colonello's inquisitiveness and watched as Tsuna went straight towards him. He knew the other had questions about his friend, but he would ignore them for now to clear up other things. "Tsuna, by any chance, did you see a building close by here?"

The brunet lifted up a delicate-looking hand to rub the bottom of his chin. "I might have seen something, I can't be certain though. It was just a passing glance while I was wondering around," As he stated that, Reborn showed the list of directions, alerting him of the reason they were out here. He peered over the written words, closing his eyes as he thought back over his memories on everything before nodding his head. Soon after, his eyes turned back to the blond, a curious, scheming look in his mixed within. "So, is he also an Arcobaleno? Hmm, rain, perhaps?"

His human partner smirked, "Yeah, he's Colonello. He won't harm you, well, he could probably try, but wouldn't get that far."

"Hey!" The rain Arcobaleno snapped, stomping forward, and smack the two hunter's foreheads together, grinding them together. Reborn didn't back down and returned the gesture, his fedora falling off, with an amused glare. Tsuna, raising an eyebrow at the interaction, caught the hat behind as it fell and swung it back and forth between his two hands. "I'm powerful enough as is! Now, who are you exactly, kora?"

The demon peered between the two and let out his extra appendages, startling the blond. His large wings flapped gently in the wing before curving around his body and his horns poked through the massive bundle of hair he had. He smirked and stepped forward, swaying his body exactly right to catch the other's attention. Tsuna licked his lips and reached forward, cupping Colonello's chin, peering straight into the eyes that had a trance like mist within them. Lust, he could just bring it out in anyone. And humans were the worst of them among any race. "Your friend is too easy. He looks quite tasty," Tsuna leaned forward and let his lips brush along a cheek, taking a deep breath of the scent that rested on them. It was so young, so delicious, and yet, it wasn't all that interesting. There was a hitch in Colonello's intake of breath and a shiver ran down the blond's spine, feeling the warmth of the body against him. And yet, he couldn't do anything but stare, like he was paralyzed. The demon stared a little longer before shoving the human away and went straight to Reborn's side, curling his hands around the right arm. Tsuna immediately rubbed his cheek against the sun Arcobaleno's shoulder, enjoying the wonderful smell the hunter was emitting. "I think I like you better, I always did enjoy challenges."

That harsh movement seemed to snapped Colonello back into some sense, shaking his head rapidly to get those bizarre thoughts out. He held his head to the side, blinking his eyes, and peered up as they tried to refocus. "What the…"

Reborn simply watched from his spot with an amused smirk, finding it funny how fast his old friend had fallen into Tsuna's little trap. It was a cunning one, hard to resist, and the results were wonderful. It was just a matter of pride. But lust could easily overrule anything if given the chance and it had worked like a charm. The brunet remained where he was at, his arms hooked around Reborn's with his tail wrapped along the waist. He made sure to keep his human partner as close as possible. When the blond managed to get everything together, his mind broken from the spell, Tsuna spoke, "If you haven't realized, I'm an incubus."

There was some realization, as if the gears in his head were beginning to move, piercing things together. Colonello let out a 'tch', now well aware of what had just happened. Reborn continued on with the conversation, wanting to get a few details out there to avoid later questions, and continued the walk towards the storage building. "Just so you know, I came across Tsuna when I summoned the Marcket. Tsuna joined me afterwards since he was only a temporary Marcket and apparently found it more interesting to help me fight demons. The previous one before him was killed off by a foolish hunter."

The incubus wiggled his nose. "Hmm, I believe Fuuta is the new one. Well, I mean, the new Marcket. He came into power three days after my partnership with you. While I was with you, another demon had to take up the temporary role. He wasn't exactly pleased with the position though."

"Fuuta?" The black-haired human pushed some branches away, slipping himself through the forest with Colonello behind. "And who is this other demon?"

"Futa is an old friend of mine. I helped raise him when he was younger a long time ago. He's such a cute little demon, you'll probably see him later on when you need to summon the Marcket. Though, that might not be necessary because whatever he knows, I do as well. As for the other demon, his name is Mukuro. He's a close friend of mine, you'll most likely meet him later though I suggest being careful around him just in case."

Reborn didn't look too pleased with the lack of information but let it go for the time being. "Hm, what you've said is true about the Marcket bit. Will he be alright considering what happened to the last Marcket?"

Tsuna shrugged his shoulders, but Reborn saw that flicker of concern. "He should be. I trained him personally. He has the amazing ability to rank anything and can work before something happens so he should be able to use his powers to see if his next summoning will be ranked too dangerous to show up to. If not, he'll call me for help."

"I see," Reborn glanced to the side when he saw a flicker of darkness move by, alerting his attention that there were a few demons nearby. Yet, none dared to strike. Tsuna's dangerous aura kept them far away, but there was still a few lingering idiots that wanted to take the chance. The demon made a sharp warning growl in return. "By the way, any luck on your side on this place?"

The brunet shook his head and glanced back towards the blond momentarily with an enquiring gaze. He motioned the other to catch up, not wanting Colonello to move out of his range of influence. The blond did as motioned and jogged closer, listening to the conversation better. When Tsuna found the distance good enough, he went back to Reborn to speak, "Nothing sadly. I tried asking around, but everyone keeps repeating the same thing. Something is just drawing them in."

"So…" Colonello couldn't help but find the conversation odd considering it was between a human and a demon and there was no blood or flesh being thrown between. The two partners peered back inquisitively for a moment. "This demon works with you and helps you, kora?"

"It's Tsuna, and yeah, he helps me." Reborn almost felt like rolling his eyes at the stupidity being shown. That information had been clearly stated even before Tsuna showed up, but it seems that it was taking longer for the other to process it. The brunet didn't speak, figuring it was best to remain quiet. He lifted his right arm forward, opening up a pathway once they got to the thick greenery of the forest. From there, they could see the little storage just a couple meters off in the distance. The three examined it from afar, looking over the area for any unknown dangers, and yet the place was completely deserted. The place was old in its state with vines growing up the sides, but luckily the walls weren't made out of wood but cement. Cracks appeared in it, letting the vines creep in, but there wasn't much damage in entirety. Vivid green moss covered the bottom, the grass high up to reveal it hadn't been cut for years, and the walls were discolored in brown.

As they stepped closer, Tsuna detached himself from Reborn to examine the place for any demons, but there was nothing in the air he could pick up on. It was clear for the time being. His long tail remained hanging low against his legs and peered back and forth over everything once more before turning back to Reborn. "I don't sense anyone inside or within the surrounding area."

"That's good to hear." Reborn went forward, unlocking the door with the keys he had received from Fong earlier, and pushed the heavy door open with a loud creek. A gust of dusty air blew pass him, making his wiggle his nose as he held back a sneeze. The air was thick from disuse and mold and he stepped inside, keeping the door open to let the room ventilate.

Everything was made of concrete to help preserve the items within and it seems to have helped so far. There was no outside influence making its way inside, but each step Reborn took stirred the dust below his feet. The books within were stacked up on two different levels, the bookcases ranging up to the very ceiling. Each level was lined with old-looking journals, many fragile in appearance from the way they were created. But most of them looked like they were in good condition considering they haven't been touched for years. Colonello, still hesitating about the demon, went in last and kept a distance away. He was unusually quiet considering his personality, but Reborn didn't mind, enjoying the silence. It would make things easier considering he needed to read through all of this and outside noises would be a distraction.

Tsuna shifted slightly like he had suddenly sensed something and peered back towards Colonello for a moment before sighing. His eyes drifted over the insides of the building, not interested in reading up on anything. It wasn't as if he would be able to understand human's civilization, much less need it considering his race. Still, that didn't mean he couldn't keep an eye out. He rose up his right hand, materializing a long metal spear, and immediately felt the air around him shift immediately. Reborn glanced over curiously with an eyebrow raised, his hand just reaching up to pluck a book, while Colonello jumped back in fear, his fingers on his gun. The end of the spear is pointed his way.

"W-What's that for, kora?" The blond cursed himself for stuttering, but when there was a sharp weapon that could easily impale through him, he had his excuses. Tsuna just huffed, holding the heavy weapon with ease before finally throwing it forward, right at the rain Arcobaleno. A startled scream escaped from the blond's lips and he dodged to the side in hopes of having it miss him. Except…a scream that was unlike his own continued on even after the spear had soared pass him and slammed into the wall behind. Colonello blinked, his hands running over his body to make sure that he was still in one piece before glancing up when he felt something warm drip onto his hands. His eyes peered down at his hands, watching as thick blood dripped down onto the floor, but he felt no pain, nothing. 'Strange…'

It was then he gazed up. There, right where he had been standing with the lance impaled into the wall, was a demon. He wasn't able to get a good look when it suddenly dissolved into the air, vanishing before his eyes, and left behind nothing more than the blood it splattered behind. But before it fully disappeared, Colonello had seen the claw reaching out for where his head had been originally at. He shivered, crawling back.

Tsuna shook his head, folding his arms across his chest. "Good thing I'm here to watch out, you shouldn't drop your guard like that." Reborn snorted from the side and went back to his task at hand, pulling out a few books to flip through. If they appeared interesting or close to the subject he was researching on, he dropped them to the ground. Another puff of dust would be created each time and since there was nowhere to sit except for the floor, he used one of the books as a stool to keep the dust from getting onto his suit. His back went against the wall with the books stacked up around him and folded his legs to make his position better. The demon peered at the sun Arcobaleno for a moment before settling down onto the floor beside him. Staring up at Reborn as if conveying something, he flopped down onto the available lap and instantly curled up almost like a cat. The adult made a grunt of discomfort, shuffling around to even the weight, until Tsuna grabbed a hold of the lap to force the other to be still.

"Tsuna…" Reborn growled out, glaring as he tightened his hold onto one of the many books. He was tempted to reach out and yank at the swirling tail.

The brunet didn't reply, remaining where he was at, and smiled comfortably. The intention was clear, he would not be reading anything, but will keep an eye out on everything to keep everyone safe. Reborn sighed and went back to reading, wanting to get this all done as quickly as possible. Colonello continued to stare at the scene before him in question, not sure on how to react to it, and decided that it was just best to ignore everything. Everything was messed up already as it was and so there was no point in trying anything else now. He went towards one of the numerous rows and began to pull out the books, his eyes drifting over the words to read.


	18. Mission 7: part 3

"Nothing, absolutely nothing!" Reborn huffed, peering over the countless books he had managed to read through over the many hours he had been stuffed into this annoyingly dusty storage. A giant stack was settled at his side, looming over him as if taunt him. He wanted nothing more than to kick it down and watch it crumble. Tsuna was still in the same position, napping on his lap happily, and perked up slightly when he heard Colonello sigh from not too far away, on the opposite side of the building. It was clear that the two humans were having absolutely no luck at all with the information gathering. Almost everything they had read up on had nothing to do with their current situation, just stuff that pertained on other things that wasn't relevant.

The only useful thing Reborn managed to find was about the various Kings and Queens of Hell, but even that wasn't very detailed much less touched. He was no doubt curious on the subject though, wanting to know more considering the fact that he had never heard of such a thing. He had figured that there was only one that ruled over all the demons, not multiple. Still, a small single paragraph on the subject made it tough to work with much less learn more. His onyx eyes peered down at the tiny demon on him and hummed to himself in thought. It wouldn't hurt to ask, now would it?

"Tsuna," The demon poked his head up and his long tail drifted down, close enough that Reborn was able to grab it. Tsuna twitched at the roughness, but it evened out when the hunter gently rubbed into the leathery skin, earning a small purr of content. Words of 'mine' were being muttered from the demon and the human almost wanted to laugh – Tsuna appeared more like a cat now. "I have a question for you."

"A question?" Tsuna flopped back into 'his' so-called spot on Reborn's lap with his eyes closed, peeking one eye open every now and then.

"It's not related to our current predicament, but about something I read," Reborn shifted slightly to get into a more comfortable position, his hand still on the tail that was wiggling around like a snake. Tsuna rolled around to be on his back, facing the hunter from below. He had to maneuver his tail slightly to get that part of his body comfy and not flattened. "I was reading about the Kings and Queens of Hell."

At those words, Reborn felt the tail within his grasp tense up. He raised an eyebrow up at it curiously, his eyes watching Tsuna's expression carefully. "Ah, that."

"What? Don't want to talk about it?"

"No, that's not it. It's just that it's really sensitive information. It's not something humans are supposed to know," At those words, Tsuna sat up, a serious look on his expression, rotating around to face the other. "In a sense, the Kings and Queens of Hell are just below the King of Demons, whose name is Drake. They rule over whatever element or area they dominate in, either in a world or just an aspect. For example, if there is a powerful demon that's extremely combative with water magic, he or she will be known as the Demonic King or Queen of Water. It's our way of titles and hierarchy. There isn't always someone for the position though, like there might be a King but no Queen or vice versa. The seven sins are also considered elements; for example there is be a Demonic King of Pride."

"It sounds… kinda simple."

"It is, actually. Whoever is most powerful gets the title. We demons can get quite cunning though, so even if a more powerful demon comes along, the current title holder can beat him through smarts and experience. We don't change titles often however since there hasn't really been anything threatening for a while." Tsuna crawled around so that he was leaning against the hunter on the side and rubbed his cheek into the shoulder. Reborn still had a grasp on his tail despite everything, his thumb rubbing over the skin gently.

"And I take it that these demons don't bother humans much?"

"Most of the time. There are a few that do it for their own amusement as well."

"And how is the Tri-Ni-Set involved with all of this? Does that mean they are lower than the Kings and Queens?" Reborn reached up with a free hand to touch his yellow pacifier within his jacket. It let out a faint glow in response as if reacting to his emotional and questioning state.

Tsuna shook his head. "No, two out of three members that hold the Tri-Ni-Set are Demonic Kings. The third doesn't hold any position besides being the Head of the group. Her name is…" At that, he paused again and gave a sigh. "Well, I might as well tell you. Her name is Yuni."

"Yuni? I remember you mentioning her when we were in the Vongola mansion with Takeshi. So she's the head demon of the Tri-Ni-Set?"

"Yes, she also rules over the pacifiers, just like the other two rulers over the Vongola and Mare rings." Tsuna received a stare from the hunter, knowing exactly what it meant. Reborn wanted to know more, this information is _not_ something he would be able to get normally. The brunet couldn't help but squirm, not because of the stare, but because of the sensitivity of the information he was giving away. It wasn't exactly something that normal people knew about, much less _needed_ to know about. Casting his eyes downwards, the brunet reached upwards to wrap his arms around the hunter's own and let out a long sigh. "Look, this isn't stuff you can go out spreading to the other hunters. If you do, I'd really have to kill you by the rules, got it?"

Reborn nodded in agreement. It wasn't as if he wanted to. He'd rather be the only one that knew such things anyway. There were too many idiots out there after all that might cause more trouble than good considering the fact that most of these demons didn't bother with humans much in the first place. It was better this way.

"Anyway, you remember me mentioning Byakuran a couple times, right?" There was another nod. "Okay, he's known as the Demonic King of Dimensions and rules over the Mare rings. As for the Vongola rings, that would be-"

"Hey, Reborn!" Colonello's voice echoed through the building, his footsteps clear as they came pounding closer. His head popped out from around the corner of the bookcase, looking down at the two with a frown. "There you are, kora."

Reborn blinked, his eyes drifting from the blonde to Tsuna, who had immediately shut up about everything. Letting out a growl at the sudden interruption, he stood up, detaching himself from the demon and drop-kicked the fool. "Dammit! You just had to interrupt!"

"W-What? What did I do, kora?" Colonello was slammed across the floor, peering up when he managed to get his situation together to see a furious Reborn. The dark aura surrounding him was deadly and anyone knew better than to say or do something stupid. Any stupid move would result in the moron getting pumped with lead.

Reborn tilted his fedora downwards, shading his eyes. "You just had to come in. You couldn't wait a few moments later, dammit. Now what did you want, idiot?"

"Ah, well, it's starting to get late so I wanted to let you know that we should start heading back. And I also just got a text that the others have arrived. They're being treated for their injuries since the demons attacked them on their way. Luckily, it's nothing bad," Colonello carefully stood up and patted his pants down, getting rid of the dust that had accumulated on his clothes from the fall. He peered over the two, stopping at Tsuna for a moment to let his eyes accidentally linger until Reborn stepped closer and knocked the idiot over the head. It was clear he was being sucked back into the charm. "That hurts, kora!"

"That's for being an idiot. Anyway, let's go. There's nothing here of use." Reborn grumbled and almost stormed out of the building, Tsuna trailing right behind with a light skip in his steps. Colonello just sighed, rubbing the back of his head, and followed along, sulking and grumbling about Reborn and his demon under his breath all the way. Tsuna let out a small chuckle, releasing his wings from their hidden spot to take flight into the air. Humans were just so interesting.

* * *

After saying goodbye to Tsuna outside, the two hunters made their way back into the temple grounds and met up with the rest of the group within. Reborn looked over the three and shook his head. They had a few cuts here and there, Skull having the most, probably for being an idiot or being the one that took the hits for everyone else. Luce had a gash across her right leg that was already cleaned up and bandaged. Other than that, she was relatively alright. Viper had a few scratches here and there and a large left upper right bruise on his leg, with his breathing quick and uneven. It was clear to Reborn that he had used most of his energy in order to create illusions for protection, diverting the demons' attention to make them chase something else. But with the massive amount of them outside, he most likely overworked himself.

"So, is everyone here?" Luce, a woman with long black hair tied back into a low-ponytail, peered around the group with a smile on her face. She was the boss of the group and at once, everyone turned their attention to her. Nodding her head at the fact that everyone was within the room, she continued, "Well, it's good to see all of us together again. It's been such a long time, though I wish it was under better circumstances." At that, she sighed, raising a hand to her cheek. Her long white sundress complimented her looks and there is an orange flower mark right under her left eye.

"It's alright, Luce. There will surely be a chance for such an occasion in the future." Fong chuckled, settled into one of the many chairs in the room. He lifted up an arm, his long red sleeve covering his lips.

Reborn leaned against a wall, arms folded, while the others either followed his example or sat down instead. He knew that for everyone, it felt odd to be all together once more like this after being separated for the last three years. The only thing that kept pulling them all together was the fact they were all Arcobaleno with some not really happy about being called so. "Let's skip the greetings for now; we have work to do and time is of essence. We can play 'catch up' later when everything has been settled."

Luce pouted. "Aw, spoilsport. Fine, let's start. Fong has already told us about what you guys were doing while we weren't here and how the situation is."

"Good, that makes things easier. Well, Reborn and I went to the storage outside the grounds, but found nothing there. It was mostly stuff relating to other things. Nothing useful, kora," Colonello quickly announced, noticing the quickly depressing attitudes that began to settle among the group. "I take it that you guys didn't find anything either?"

Verde was next to speak, pushing up his glasses. "Absolutely nothing. We could only go through one storage house during this entire time, but nothing pertained to our case. It just had too much junk here to go through. It took us almost the entire day to shuffle through that mess and I suspect it would have taken longer if it wasn't for the fact there were two of us."

"So that leaves the other five…" Fong sighed, shoulders slumping. He peered outside where the sun had already set for the day, night making its way around the place. There was no point in doing any more work for the rest of the day. "Well, since it's already so late, let's stop for today. We probably need some food and rest for tomorrow, alright?"

Everyone mumbled along the same lines, agreeing wholeheartedly. Those who had done some work didn't want to look at any more books for the day, feeling like their brains were about to explode from all the information. Their stomachs weren't helping either – Skull's apparently decided to make itself known by growling loudly, followed by Colonello's. A few laughs slipped out among the group, pulling them away from the seriousness of the situation. Even Reborn found it hard to not break out something. Shaking his head, he tilted his fedora downward and let out a little smirk, listening to the yelling in the background. It was like the group was a family again.

* * *

Dinner passed uneventfully. No one was really in the mood to fight or talk, everyone too exhausted from today's activities. There were some small chatter here and there, mainly on Luce's end, but most remained quiet. The workers or monks/priests helped serve them food, all of them still in hiding from the demons while others continued to lock themselves away to pray. Reborn didn't believe in such things, he had never been a religious man and never would be. Gulping down the offered water, Reborn wiggled his nose slightly and let out a small sigh as he stretched his back. He wanted something else, not just water. Alcohol, that's what he desired, something to momentarily ease his uptight form for a few minutes, just enough to get himself to relaxed. However, knowing that it was impossible to get any here, he stood up to leave.

Tomorrow, everyone was going to split up again to search through the rest of the storages, him taking one on his own. Luckily, Colonello hadn't spoken about Tsuna, probably because he didn't want anyone to know that he had fallen for the demon's charms. Everyone else had forgotten about that small fact for the time being and this was no mood to ask about it.

When he went towards one of the extra rooms the place offered for the hunters, he immediately locked the door behind him and went straight to the window. He had hoped that Tsuna might have gotten through the barrier by now considering how good the demon was with everything else, but nothing. He couldn't feel that familiar presence anywhere close by and even as he opened one of the windows to alert the brunet, there was no shift in the air. Reborn bit back a curse, looks like he wouldn't be able to get in touch with the demon unless he left the barrier's protection and that already would be too suspicious on its own. 'So I'm stuck on my own for the time being.'

Closing the windows back up and locking it, he went straight to bed, settling onto the rough mattress. 'Looks like I've been depending on Tsuna more and more for a lot of things. Though considering that he knows more about demons, it's to be expected,' Taking his fedora off, he flopped back onto the bed, wondering how tomorrow would look. 'Probably the same as today.'

* * *

Reborn grumbled to himself as he looked over the numerous archives in this damn room. There were far too many, it would take him weeks to sort through them all due to their vast majority, and he had only gone through a small portion since the morning. Now it was starting to reach the end of the day, an hour or two before the sun would be completely gone from the sky. And the worst part was that he was unable to see anything of the outside world due to the fact that he was deeply underground with no windows to allow any form of light in. He cursed, shifting the burning candle, apparently this temple didn't like electricity very much, so that he could see the written words on the book better. The tomes were old, probably by two to three hundred years and time had definitely done a number to the books and the pages within. They weren't as old as the ones outside the grounds, looking more recent, but just as abandoned.

He still had no luck with getting through to Tsuna, but he had a strong feeling the demon was still working on the barriers, trying to slip through. As much as he wanted the brunet to be beside him, both he and Tsuna knew better. There was no need to create chaos by shattering the only barriers that were preventing the demons from rushing in. Still, the warning Tsuna had given to him long before entering the temple grounds was ringing in his ears.

_"Reborn, be careful. I feel a very powerful being deep within this place,_ _it's neither demon nor human. It's something else, but I can't put my finger on it. I'm certain I've felt this presence a long time ago. Regardless, it does not like demons and humans. If anything, that might be the thing that's been attacking the humans within the compound. So be careful until I get there, alright?"_

Reborn closed his eyes for a moment, lifting his fedora up when he placed the candle down to run a hand through his hair. It was frustrating, all of this was frustrating. He was trying to fight an unknown enemy with almost no information on it. Damn, he really was starting to depend on Tsuna to help him get by and it wasn't only because the information he received was unrivaled to any book he could ever read. There were also the magic and physical abilities Tsuna had that had saved him from death multiple times in the past. It was hard not to think otherwise on how attached he had become to his counterpart in a matter of months. Reborn shook his head, no, he had work to do and concentrate on.

Picking the candle back up once more, he pulled out a few more books, glancing through the materials before putting it back. Nothing, there was nothing worthwhile in these tomes. Almost all of them were talking about the same thing over and over again. One had mentioned some protective god that once ruled this land, but it was nothing more than a fairytale. There was another that talked about a human who sacrificed her life to protect the dying lives on the mountains, some rain dances, traditions, and much more. It was all bullcrap in his mind.

As he shifted through more books, he twitched when he felt a sneeze coming, wiggling his nose in frustration before letting loose. He growled, pinching the bridge of his nose, and peered around the enclosed space once more. Just how much dust had accumulated in this small place? 'It's ridiculous, how could these idiots not take care of their sacred items if it's so important to them? Morons.'

His phone vibrated for a moment, snapping him away from his work. He looked at the caller ID and placed the candle down before pressing the accept button. "Yes, Fong?"

"Hey, Reborn, any luck on your side?"

"Absolutely. I've been going through mountains of dust to hack my lungs up over. Other than that, not much luck."

"Reborn…" The man could just hear the other sighing depressingly at his rude comment. "Well, you're not the only one. There's been no luck on this side either or with the others. I guess in an hour we should meet up outside in the courtyard to report."

"Alright then." Not bothering with pleasantries, he cut off the call and pocketed the device. Just as he did so, a small light that seemed to spark appeared at the periphery of his vision, forcing him to turn towards that direction. But in that darkness, he saw nothing, no light, nothing. Pushing the candle outwards to illuminate more of the area, he squinted his eyes to see, but there were only books and obscurity. 'Must have been my imagination.'

Turning back, but still keeping his guard up just in case, he went back to looking, moving down the hallway. Just as he passed an intersection, he saw that light again and reacted to it immediately, drawing his trusty gun. There was a click that echoed, his safety off, and he called out, "Who's there?"

There was, of course, no answer.

"Tsuna? Is that you?" Reborn made his way closer to the spot where he had seen the flash, checking everywhere to ensure he wasn't overlooking anything. He wished this place wasn't as dark as it was, it would make things less worrying. However, he knew that wouldn't be happening anytime soon. 'Great, just what I need.'

He fired off into the darkness when he saw another flash and cursed vividly under his breath. Whoever it was, it wasn't Tsuna. He knew the brunet wouldn't do something like this to him. Sure there had been some pranks, but nothing like this. Another flash came and he quickly fired two bullets that way but hit nothing, listening to the metal slam into the dullness of wood. "Show yourself!"

Reborn could hear some mumbling and saw more sparks in the abyss, giving some light on his little taunt. He could make out a humanoid body, but there was something off about it. Really off. And despite seeing it glow, there was nothing else he could work with to find out about the figure, not even the gender.

_It's neither demon nor human._

'Dammit, Tsuna. This is the worst time for you to not be here.' Reborn fired at the floating being, but the body didn't move, the bullets stopped before they met their destination and the sparks continued to grow stronger with each passing second. The air had the mixed stimulating aura and the hunter took a step back by instinct. Electricity crackled on the bookcases, scotching a black path into the wood, and the scent of something burning quickly filled the room. The papers that were touched went flying, scattering around like there was wind blowing them, and puffs of dust flew out in response. But despite the craziness around him, Reborn's onyx eyes remained on the person. "Who are you? Are you a demon? Or something else altogether?"

A voice whispered out, clearly not listening to the human, "How can you come in here?" Reborn blinked, eyebrows narrowed, and took another step back. The voice was raspy, probably from disuse from what he could guess, and each time a syllable slipped out, more sparks flew. He felt eyes resting on his body and he clicked his gun again, preparing to fire it once more. "Your betrayal knows no bounds, human."

"Betrayal? What are you talking about?"

The figure's glowing dimmed down, blending into the surrounding darkness. "Your betrayal, betrayal, betrayal! Disappear, you disgusting human!"

Reborn's eyes widened momentarily before he automatically fired a couple more rounds, hoping they would hit something. It was only then that the light on his candle blew out, leaving the room in darkness.


	19. Mission 7: part 4

"Is everyone here?" Luce called out as she stood near the center of the group, looking over everyone worriedly with a motherly expression. Her hands were pressed together, lying right under her bosom, and her mushroom-shaped hat was nowhere in sight. The boss of the Arcobaleno had apparently decided to ditch it in the safety of her room. As she continued her inspection of each person she noticed a few were completely covered in dust, the patches evident on their clothes, but disregarded it, knowing that they were alright. To her relief, no one had been attacked.

"Almost, Reborn hasn't arrived yet." Lal noted, glancing around the group, but the fedora-wearing man was nowhere in sight. It was unusual considering the man's personality. He would either be the first one to arrive or somewhere in the middle, never last.

"No, wait, he's here," The only blonde of the group pointed off to another building where the male hunter was just exiting. His actions had a slight sluggish movement to them but it went unnoticed amongst the group as they watched him close the door and step closer. The heels of his shoes clanked as he strode forward, only falling silent when he stopped beside Colonello. "You sure took your time, kora."

"Ah, a couple of bookcases collapsed on me. It was such a pain to dig myself out. Those bastards better decide fix those stupid things the next time I have to go down there," Reborn sneered, flicking his fedora upward in frustration before brushing some imagery dust off his shoulder. Despite his words, he looked to be in better condition than everyone else, his black suit would have easily revealed the specks of grayish-white dust. He looked enraged though, a dark aura surrounding him, and Skull had to make things worse by laughing That earned the purple-haired hunter a good kick to the face. "Shut up, lackey! I have no time for you. Did anyone actually find anything we could work with?"

There were various shakes, eyes drifting from one person to another in defeat. No one had found anything better than useless junk or stuff that _would_ have been useful if it had been a different situation. They needed something advantageous on their enemy, not trivial information about a demon that was defeated in the past or one that had been sealed away in a different area five years ago.

"So back to square one again…" Verde grumbled, pushing his glasses upward, though the disappointment in his eyes was obvious. He had been hoping to get this job over and done with. He had more important things to do back home than running around wasting time on this mission. "Do you think the head monk of this place might know something?"

"I doubt it. But we only have a limited amount of time before the next demon attack. This barrier won't hold forever. If we could just get rid of what it is they're after then they would stop, right?" Lal commented from the other corner, her arms across just below her cleavage, and turned to Luce. Her long blue hair had fallen over her shoulders, forcing her to toss the strands back and readjust her hat. Viper, however, didn't share any thoughts, keeping his lips sealed in a thin line. However, underneath his hood, his eyes were staring at the fedora-wearing man before him in confusion. No one else noticed it due to his cover, but when Reborn glanced at him, Viper turned away, shrugging the feeling off as nothing. It was probably something stupid anyway. Still, he glanced back soon after, resuming his puzzled gaze as the feeling surfaced once more, ignoring the conversation that was going on in the background.

"Could it be that statue at the altar? I mean, it looked a little odd compared to everything else."

"Maybe, we could ask about it."

"And then there's that jewel they had hanging up on the ceiling as well in the room in the west corner."

"And that room they sealed away is suspicious too."

"Damn, there are just too many things to investigate, kora!"

_Bang!_

A sudden sound echoed among the group and for a moment, they froze in shock as their minds tried to catch up with their surroundings. A split second later, they began to move by instinct, running in multiple directions to get out of the range, while searching their surroundings for the shooter. Who would shoot them? They didn't know nor understand it. They simply reacted to the threat to their lives, dashing for cover. Slowly, the members of the Arcobaleno turned their headed towards the area they had run out of, only to freeze in their places. Everyone could only stare in shock as they saw who had fired.

There, Reborn stood holding a smoking gun in his right hand and his fedora was tilted downwards, a dark shadow concealing his eyes from view. However, their main concern rested on Viper. Their mist Arcobaleno stumbled slightly, his hand reaching up to touch a spot on his robe for moment and when he pulled back, a deep red had dyed his fingers. The grin on the sun Arcobaleno's lips made them shiver at the sight, it was a grin they had never seen on Reborn before. There was a loud cry that woke everyone up from the petrified state and Luce immediately ran towards her fallen comrade, ignoring the danger she was facing. She was muttering healing spells to salvage the situation, trying to prevent anymore blood loss, while repairing Viper's broken form.

No one dared to speak, too shocked from the events. Reborn had turned against them. Why? That same thought flooded through everyone's minds in disbelief.

"R-Reborn?" Fong stuttered, carefully taking a step back, with his hands raised up to defend himself at a moment's notice. However, what he saw made him jump back, the rest of the group mirroring his movement. It wasn't the dark look within Reborn's eyes or the gun he was holding up, no, it was the lightning that was sparking around their fellow hunter. It was during the show of electricity that they could see the usual dark black of Reborn's eyes get replaced with a bright purple hue that seemed to glow. The grin seemed to stretch almost maniacally into something that didn't belong to him, and Reborn laughed threateningly for a moment. Soon, he was firing off bullets, not truly aiming for a specific target, but merely to get everyone away. His laughter seemed to echo in the night sky, the moon barely revealing itself from behind the clouds.

The group scattered, Luce held Viper with the help of Colonello, who had slipped by to help pick up their fallen member and ran for cover. Most of the group ran behind trees and statues to evade the rain of bullets, knowing that if they weren't careful one hit could kill them. It was too clear that something was off about their friend. Reborn wouldn't waste bullets like this, he wouldn't shoot his own group members, and he definitely didn't have purple eyes. There was only one thought that ran through their minds and as much as they hated it, they knew it was true.

"Reborn's been possessed?! Are you shitting me? That's the worst thing to happen!" Lal screamed as she ducked behind the tree, a bullet missing her thigh thanks to the now present cover. Another lodged into the wood further up, had she not have moved, her head would have had a new hole. As she peered out to observe the situation, another bullet managed to nick her right cheek, allowing a thin trail of blood to drip down. Verde and Luce had already disappeared into the confines of the building, taking refuge within, while the rest of the fighters tried to stop Reborn from creating anymore trouble. Of course that was easier said than done. They were fighting against someone who was much stronger than the rest of them. Viper, despite the bullet wound, remained in the field with everyone else; his hand was firmly clasped against his wounded side. Luce had managed to heal him enough to prevent any serious damage.

"But how?" Fong whispered under his breath, jumping behind a statue once the one he had previously been behind suddenly exploded. "I doubt Reborn would let himself get possessed by a demon so easily."

"Same, that man is far too stubborn to allow such a thing to happen. Something is definitely off about this demon though," Viper commented as he hid in one of the bushes, watching as Skull and Colonello teamed up to distract the trigger-happy man. Reborn didn't have any of his usual smarts, he was just firing towards the group randomly. There was an insane look in his expression, continuing to waste ammo as if nothing were wrong. "What's weird is that I don't sense any demonic energy coming from him. I've seen multiple possessions before - _I've_ been possessed before - and demons give off a certain energy that identifies them. But he's doesn't. Whatever is possessing Reborn is something I've never seen before. That's no demon!"

"Are you serious? Then what could it be?"

"Don't ask me. I don't know a thing."

As they spoke, the air shifted as the electricity that sparked around Reborn's body formed a strong blue background, the hitman immediately stopped shooting. The hunter went still, letting the gun rest beside his frame. The color began to fade soon after like it was losing its strength. The rest of the group peeked out cautiously, wondering what was happening.

Reborn's face grimaced, he was grinding his teeth in frustration, and had his eyes squeezed tightly together. He suddenly reached up to grab his head, dropping his weapons to the ground, and took a few steps back. He let out a growl. "G-Get out of me!" The yell spooked the group but they quickly figured out that their friend was still in there, fighting back against the thing possessing him. They nodded at each other and moved together, hoping to have enough time to knock the other out before the thing possessing their friend could once again gain control. They needed to act quickly before the thing went on a rampage, much less, harm Reborn. But, just as they got close enough to touch the other, the monster came back into control and began firing lightning bolts in each direction. Luckily, with all the internal struggling, the aim was off, bouncing uselessly off the ground or at the stone walls behind the Arcobaleno.

"Shit! Just when we get close enough it fights back; keeping Reborn down and us away!" Lal sneered, taking out her own weapon to fire back. She aimed at the bullets to keep them from reaching them.

" _Damn you, human! Stop resisting against me! I am a God! You should be obeying me!_ " Reborn screamed at something as his hands went straight towards his head and a purple flicker appeared in those dark orbs as if taking over. Lightning flashed around the hunter, scattering everyone in the vicinity.

"Reborn's still resisting!" Skull commented from the side, cowering behind a tree for protection. His was struck in the side, the skin burning, but it wasn't bad enough to seek medical attention yet. That and he'd suffered much worse than a few burns.

Fong, closest to the fedora-wearing hunter, watched as his old friend snuck a glance towards him as if sending some hidden message underneath. The Chinese man got it immediately, nodding his head slowly in compliance, knowing he had to do this in order to stop the pointless fighting. As soon as Reborn turned back and fought back against the monster within, Fong raced forward while dodging the lightning strikes. During that time, the other continued to struggle against his attacker at full force, trying to gain control long enough to give his friend the chance to knock him out.

All Reborn felt was a sharp pain to the back of his head before that same blackness engulfed him, his limbs going numb as his consciousness slipped away. Fong immediately caught his falling friend right before he hit the ground and cradled the fellow hunter in his lap, looking down at the pained expression. Both souls had been contained inside, still fighting from within. 'Reborn, my friend, just what had happened to you…?'

As the rest of the group circled the fallen hunter, they peered at each other before nodding. "Quick, tie him up. I don't want to fight him again. He's powerful enough as it is."

* * *

"Are you sure he'll be okay down here?" Fong glanced towards the head monk, Lynes, as he and Colonello placed Reborn's tied up body onto the ground. The unconscious hunter hadn't moved since he had been knocked out, he seemed quite peaceful compared to before. His fedora was on the floor, just inches away from the owner, and a twitch or two was present on Reborn's forehead. Yet, the hunter remained comatose, not once moving a finger.

"Yes, this chamber is known for keeping anything supernatural in check. It's made out of some kind of unknown special material. It's also reinforced with seals, spells, and talismans. It doesn't seal the entity, but it does weaken whatever is in here. So if this demon possessing your friend awakens, it won't be at full power. It might not even have the strength to break those bonds." Lynes explained, his eyes drifting around the room as if double checking that everything was in order.

"I… see." Fong had told the others after the Reborn incident that it would be best to keep quiet about the whole 'god' ordeal. There was no need to send a religious order into some kind of strange frenzy, nor was there a need for a group of morons to decide that they wanted to release the god. It was bad enough with their best fighter taken out, they didn't need any additional trouble. However, if push came to shove, would he really have to kill Reborn to free him? Shaking his head at the thoughts, Fong stepped away with the others, leaving Reborn on the ground and hoping that everything would turn out fine. He didn't want to do anything to his friend; everyone had been through enough already.

As the door slammed shut, sending the entire room into darkness with only a small stream of light coming through the window on the other side, a shadow shifted from the right. It slowly molded itself into a human-like form with a pair of wings spread out from behind. A tail flicked upwards and a pair of horns appeared on top of puffy caramel-colored hair. As the being stepped further into what little light existed in the room the figure was easier to see. High-heeled shoes clanked across the concrete ground and stopped in front of the hunter, the tail lashing out as the being huffed disappointingly. "It's only been a day and yet this happens. My, Reborn, you sure know how to get into a lot of trouble."

Tsuna sighed, settling on top of the human's stomach after having kicked the other over onto his back and stared down at the emotionless expression. As soon as he leaned over, those eyes snapped open, a dark purple color glaring at the one above.

"You!" It wasn't Reborn's voice, it was someone else's.

"Yes, me," Tsuna replied sarcastically and held the body below down with ease. Though he could feel the effects of the room, it affected the other more and with a simple push, the restrained human couldn't budge an inch. "Now, why don't you be a nice little god and get out of _my_ human. I'm quite fond of him."

Those purple eyes narrowed, sneering hatefully in rage, small sparks of electricity flowing into the surroundings. "This body has been corrupted! Stained! Ruined by you, you monster!"

"Yeah, yeah, shut up already."

"You, Demonic King of Time, to think I would see you again after all these years! You haven't changed one bit! I had hoped that you wouldn't reappear in the mortal realm after that incident."

"Ah, _that_ incident. Yes, I remember it quite well despite it being four hundred years ago. Though I will be honest, it took a while to actually recall everything since it was so long ago but now everything is clear. You attacked Vongola because you didn't like how they were willingly working together with demons and was defeated by none other than Stella Cielo and myself. After that, you were sealed away to prevent any other issues, but it seems the monks here accidentally broke your seal."

"It's all your fault! Everything!" However, as soon as Reborn had spoken those words there was a sickening laughter. Though, it looked awkward considering this was Reborn's body. "But to think that you would allow yourself to make a contract with a human! And then you defiled him with that body of yours!"

Tsuna just rolled his eyes, his long tail swinging behind. "I want to talk to the real Reborn now. You're not really all that interesting to converse with. Come to think of it you never have been."

"That human is deep within, he can't hear you now!"

The brunet continued to ignore the yelling, using the contract he had with Reborn to interlink. He closed his eyes for a moment, looking for the special soul buried within the body, and eventually found who he was searching for. "Tell me, Reborn, does that mean I have your permission to enter your body?" Tsuna smirked, watching as the human's face below contorted into pain and agony as he tightened his grasp. It was enough so to tear into the weak flesh, but that wasn't the main point of harming the body below. No, he wanted to listen to the god within scream out continually as he pressed his powerful presence further into the spirit. Still, he ignored all that and the power the god had put into desperately trying to throw the demon off; instead he was listening for the voice within the soul. Then he heard it.

' _Yes, get this son of a bitch out of me!'_

Tsuna chuckled and leaned closer, staring at the human's face as his eyes widened in fury and at the same time, fear. "As you wish, Reborn."


	20. Mission 7: part 5

"Did you feel that?!" Fong cried out dashing through the hallways with the other hunters behind him, knowing that there was only one place it could come from. That flow of power, it was engulfing and terrifying at the same time. He'd never have imagined that the god would still be so powerful after years of being ignored and trapped in that basement. The rest of the group nodded their heads in understanding, rushing to the place where Reborn was being held prisoner. The attack earlier was still fresh in their minds and as much as they knew that Reborn would try to resist, they knew that eventually he would lose. It was a god against a human - the victor was far too obvious.

As they reached the doors to the underground basement, they felt the air stir for a moment. The hair on their skin stood up as some electrifying sensation pulsated through the atmosphere. Though they kept moving, their limbs felt like they were being held by invisible weights. Time seemed to slow down - a powerful force that didn't belong to the god was swirling like a whirlpool in the area, concentrated within the room. Colonello cursed loudly, just barely reaching the door when suddenly it stopped. The hunters paused at that, glancing at each other in curiosity, they were now able to move freely again.

"It's gone?" Luce whispered; flexing her fingers for a moment before fear struck her mind. If it was gone, did that mean… Reborn lost? No, that wasn't possible. He couldn't lose in a battle of willpower. He had always been the strongest of the group and him falling was just… devastating. Fong shivered and nodded towards Colonello to open the door. Everyone swallowed as nervousness fell onto their bodies like a parasite, fear prickling their minds. As the door swung open, a puff of smoke filtered through the air and they could hear some noises. They identified it as coughing and someone suddenly cursed wildly in an unknown language no one recognized. Fong was the first one to enter, his body tense, waiting for any attack that might occur. He cast a quick wind spell to free the air and the smoke quickly evaporated.

In the spot where Reborn had been kept, another body was perceptible, choking viciously on the air. Beside the unknown figure, Reborn appeared to be unconscious and upon closer inspection of his body, they could see multiple cuts all over the skin. The hunter's face and hands had three long gashes, but the clothes remained unharmed despite darkening from the blood. Luce gasped at the sight and instantly rushed over, checking the wounds before immediately casting healing spells in hopes of slowing the bleeding. She didn't even look at the other person who was lying across the room.

"How is Reborn, Luce?" Verde asked, going to her side to see if he could lend any help, but his only useful skills were in weaponry and science, not magic.

"He's stable, but unconscious. There are cuts all over his body and I've managed to stop the bleeding but it'll take time to heal," Luce muttered a few more spells before speaking once more, "Just what… happened?"

"Perhaps this one can fill us in, kora?" Colonello stepped closer to the fallen form, gun out just in case. His eyes peered over the lean figure and glared, watching as sparks pulsated on the body. It didn't take much to figure out that the person had been the one to possess their friend.

"Disgusting humans…" The body spoke, a low-pitched voice that was too familiar. "Disgusting demons… how dare you…" The smoke cleared to reveal a body picking itself up, bright purple eyes staring at the hunters before him. His blond hair was wrapped around his neck and the white robes were covered in dust. There was a large gash across his chest, blood pooling out, but that was soon stopped as the man touched it, a light coming out of those hands and forcing the cut to regenerate.

"Who?" Skull whispered from the back, cowering behind everyone in fear.

It was Fong who realized what he was seeing. "Is that the god of this land? But how?" He remembered seeing something similar to that appearance in the ancient books lying around in the shrine and the details, though distorted over time, were very comparable and noticeable. "Did Reborn manage to find a way to force you out?"

"Damn humans…" The god continued to mutter under his breath, not hearing a single word, and turned his eyes to the crowd before him. He stared at every one of them, eyeing them as if calculating something in his mind, only to sneer. "None of them, none of them have been corrupted. Damn, damn, damn…" With that, the sparks appeared more wildly on his body and eventually, both Colonello and Fong jumped back to dodge, the rest of the group watching as a wind formed around the god. The force scattered around the area, pushing bookshelves to collapse and items that had been stored inside fell and crumbled to the ground. The window behind slammed open and soon, that force turned into a tornado-like form, flying out to freedom. As soon as it disappeared, the air calmed down almost immediately, leaving the group completely speechless as their minds tried to process what happened.

Luce was the first to move, tapping Reborn's face gently to get a response, but got nothing, just a low moan. "Guys, I need help carrying Reborn to a room. He needs medical treatment right away!"

That seemed to snap the group out of their daze and they turned towards the worried woman and their unconscious friend. Soon, everyone was moving, clearing everything and alerting the rest of the people in the shrine of what had occurred. Chaos spread among the hallways and guards were placed all around, waiting for the god to attack once more. Most didn't believe it was the god, saying that it had to be a mistake, but the Arcobaleno didn't have time to rebuke their beliefs, demanding them to stand guard. However no attack came, the air was still as the birds chirped innocently and the leaves rustled like there was nothing wrong. Reborn was lifted up from the basement to a bed upstairs, his jacket and fedora taken off and placed onto a table close by. Everyone left Luce to deal with him as the rest tried to gather information on what happened, confusion evident on their faces. Was it really possible for a god to be forced out of a body? They knew it was possible for demons, but a god?

Luce sighed to herself as she held a bowl of warm water and a small towel. She would have used the first aid kit but most of the items had already been used during the previous attacks. So many people had been gravely injured that healing items were on the all-time low. At least cleaning the wounds would help the healing process, it was better than nothing, and she felt better now that the cuts were finally starting to close with her magic. As she stepped closer to the door, which had been opened slightly to allow easy access in an emergency situation, she paused when she saw something moving in the moonlight.

'What?' Stepping closer as quietly as possible, she peeked inside the room and immediately looked towards the bed. There, she saw Reborn sitting up, wide awake, and was staring at his hands with his eyebrows narrowed angrily. The male hunter yanked up his sleeves to get a better look at his arms, grumbling under his breath. A dark aura was surrounding him and there was a twitch at his lips whenever he moved.

"Stupid Delimik, should have known you would try to injury this body if I forced you out in revenge." Reborn mumbled, rotating to swing his legs over the bed.

Luce blinked. 'Wait… that doesn't sound like Reborn… and what's he talking about… Delimik, is that the god's name?'

The male hunter stood, wincing slightly in pain from all the cuts, and slowly stretched. As he made his way to a mirror on the opposite side of the room Luce noticed that something was completely off with her old friend. His eyes… they weren't purple like when Reborn had been possessed by the god, no, they were now orange. It was a beautiful shade of orange that reflected moonlight off like crystals. It was like they were glowing in the darkness. Luce continued to watch as her friend stared into the mirror, unbuttoning his shirt to get to the wounds.

"Hmm, looks like a simple healing spell will work. Better do it now since I'm inside. Man, if Reborn wakes up and finds out I'm still in here, I swear I'm never going to hear the end of it."

'Reborn? He's been repossessed?' Luce felt a stab entered her heart, wondering what she could do to help her fellow hunter. She couldn't just leave him like this, not with some unknown being deep within. Suddenly, those orange eyes turned towards the door, towards her.

"You can come out. I know you have been watching me this entire time," The so-called Reborn spoke, his body rotating in the same direction and settled into the chair at the table the mirror was on. He ran a hand through the black locks and watched as Luce carefully pushed the door open wider, stepping in with all due caution. He had the shirt back on, covering up the contract tattoo underneath. "Do not worry, I shall not attack you. And your friend here," An arm reached up and went over Reborn's heart. "-is alright. I will give him back to you once I've healed his body."

Luce sighed in relief, stepping even closer and peered straight into those orange eyes. They were familiar since they were Reborn's, but at the same time, not. She placed the bowl onto the table and turned her full attention to the possessed hunter. "Who… are you?"

"Just a… demon."

"Demon?!" At that, the woman backed up, eyes wide with fear.

"Ah, just a demon. And didn't I just say that I mean you no harm?" The possessed Reborn sighed. "Anyway, my name is Tsuna. I'll give you Reborn back once I've finished healing his body. You probably didn't notice but these wounds," Tsuna pointed to a couple of them to show her. "Didn't come from outside, it was created from within. Can you imagine the damage on the inside of this body?" At the widening of her eyes, the demon smirked. "Ah, yes, there's plenty of internal damage. The healing spells you managed to cast only healed the outside, the organs within were bleeding out. But do not worry, most of that have already been fixed. There is only a little remaining and a simple healing spell of mine can patch it right up."

"A-Ah…" Luce didn't know if she should be relieved or fear for her friend's life, but right now, she felt better knowing that Reborn would live. She leaned further forward to peer into those orange eyes, wondering why a demon of all creatures would help a hunter. Didn't they hate hunters? It made no sense to her. Nevertheless she couldn't do much in her position, only hope for the best.

Tsuna shifted in the seat, uncomfortable with the gaze, however he still managed to cast the spell and felt the aches and pains slipping away until there was nothing left. Deciding that everything was now fixed to how it was before Reborn had gotten possessed by the god, he stood back up and closed his eyes. Reborn was probably going to need a bit of a nudge to awaken from his slumbering state inside his own body. As he slipped deep into the mind space that Reborn was dwelling in, he gave a sharp kick to the hunter's formed body and was immediately able to feel the man's consciousness starting to flicker. Soon after, he found himself back in front of Luce and literally stepped out of Reborn's body, letting the body collapse into his waiting arms. A small mutter of words slipped from the hunter's lips, nudging further against the brunet. Tsuna just chuckled in amusement, bending down, and his tail flicked out once as he organized Reborn's fallen form comfortably into his arms, carrying him towards the bed. His wings were folded up against his back and he peered at the human woman after dropping Reborn off.

"He's been completely healed. He should be waking up at any second." Tsuna spoke, folding his arms and then waited patiently for the woman to act. He wasn't sure if he would be attacked or if the woman would call for help. Regardless, he couldn't move too far away from Reborn. The idiotic fallen god could easily come back to possess the human once more. A pitiful act of revenge and he refused to allow such an occurrence to happen again.

Once Luce grew accustomed to the presence of the demon, taking curious looks at him every now and then, she rushed to Reborn's side to check him over. She quickly deemed him alright and sighed in relief. Now that, that was cleared up she turned her gaze towards the demon and spoke, "You're Tsuna right?"

"That's right. Tell me, what do you know so far about your situation?"

"W-What?" Luce narrowed her eyebrows in confusion, not sure what to make of the question. "Situation?"

"Do you not know who had previously possessed Reborn?"

The woman felt her shoulders shrink at that. "From what was said we concluded that it was a god."

Tsuna simply nodded his head. "That is correct. Well, a fallen god now. His name is Delimik. Research him if you want to find out more about him, but it's nothing noteworthy. He'll be hard to kill without-" He paused for a moment as he noticed movement from Reborn, his eyes shooting down at the human. Immediately, he went to his side, well aware of the concern on Luce's face. "Reborn, how do you feel?"

The hunter grumbled under his breath, slowly sitting up while cradling his head. "Been better. Damn, where did that bastard go?" His eyes were shut in frustration, concentrating solely on Tsuna's voice. He wanted to thank the demon for saving him, but that just wouldn't be him.

"Outside. He's been weakened considerably. If you want to defeat Delimik, there are two ways. You need to use a demon since our attacks are effective against him, or an angelic weapon. Back when Stella and myself took him on, it wasn't a problem. I was more than capable of defeating him on my own, but since I doubt you really want to reveal me to everyone, I won't be able to help. However, if things turn badly, I'll step in. Anyway, I believe the angelic weapon we used against him is still in the main dining room where it has been stored as an artifact," Tsuna watched as those dark eyes turned to him, Reborn giving him a sharp nod in compliance. His tail reached over to lift up the fedora that was placed onto the nightstand and tossed it towards the hunter, who quickly caught it between two fingers. "I think you look better with your signature hat."

"It's a fedora."

"It's still a hat regardless of the name you humans gave it."

Reborn huffed. "You're starting to get real cheeky on me," He placed the familiar item back onto his head, tucking his spiky hair within and twirled his curls. His body was still aching but it wasn't as bad as before. His eyes watched as Tsuna handed over his stuff plus a few extras he had gathered, knowing fully well it would help him out. Reborn could not use his normal items, most were probably useless against a god, much less one that seemed to have the tendency to spark. "You know, I think your personality has been changing ever since you met me."

Tsuna paused at that, blinking his eyes curiously before smiling. "It does seem so. Perhaps it's because I'm no longer in a boring room that surrounds me all day doing the same thing over and over again. Anyone's personality would be killed off after hundreds of years of facing that," He shook his head, running a hand through his hair, still knowing that Luce was there watching, unnoticed by the male hunter. "My friends said the same thing the last time I met them.

"You mean that water demon, Takeshi, right? Or Gokudera?"

"Both. Said I was more cheery than ever before while laughing. By the way, you do realize there's someone else in the room, right?"

Reborn didn't flinch nor twist around to look at the leader of the Arcobaleno. He simply continued to put his gear on, double checking to make sure that everything was on correctly. "I'm well aware of that. I was hoping that it was nothing more than an illusion or a ghost since I really don't want to explain anything."

"Reborn," Luce finally spoke, shaking the somewhat cheery atmosphere the two in a pact had made with their banter. "Reborn, who… is this?"

The hunter twisted around, taking in the curious yet fearful expression his boss held towards him. "A demon named Tsuna. He's been helping me for a while."

"But why would a demon help you? Unless… you're in a contract?"

"That's right, I contracted a demon. Luce, don't worry, I know what I'm doing. Colonello has already met Tsuna, but that idiot hasn't done anything yet." Reborn tilted his fedora and slowly stretched his limbs carefully, knowing not to push it after just being healed. He felt better than before and he had a whole lot of energy to use for the upcoming battle. He was going to show that bastard some payback for what he had done, three times over.

The boss of the Arcobaleno didn't look convinced. "Reborn…"

"Luce," This time Tsuna spoke. "Do not worry, Reborn shall be fine. He's too stubborn for a human."

Reborn snapped, "What was that?"

"Oh, you heard me."

Luce stared at the two before laughing out loud. Despite the strangeness, she couldn't help it.

* * *

Reborn held up the blade in his right hand towards his face, examining the item carefully. He didn't see how this would be useful towards a god, but whatever, if Tsuna said it would work then it would. However, he was no sword wielder. He used guns and weaponry in that area - that was it. Swords were never his thing and for many reasons; having a sword meant getting in range of the demon's attack, something he'd greatly like to avoid. He could only hope that one of the other members knew how to use a sword besides just randomly swinging it. The only person he suspected was Fong and he was confident enough to know that the Chinese man was efficient in dodging. Luce had gone back to gather the other members of the Arcobaleno, leaving the hunter alone with Tsuna. The demon was on top of the ceiling in the main dining hall, keeping himself out of view.

"You sure this is it?" The raven glanced over the dulled blade once more, running his fingers over the rusted material. It didn't even cut him and he cursed at the useless item. It was clear that it hadn't been used for hundreds of years, probably around four-hundred from the last battle with the god. He had gotten the basic story from Tsuna but that was it and there was no doubt he wanted a better version.

"Yeah, but the years haven't done it any good," Tsuna fluttered down, flapping his wings gently. He motioned the human to bring it closer to him and raised his hand outwards, letting his magic flow through. The damage on the sword began to recede. "How much do you know about me? I'm certain Delimik must have said a few things while inside you."

Reborn's dark eyes glanced up towards the demon and snorted. "Yeah, he did and at the same time, he didn't. I learned from him that you're the King of Time, one of the three members of the Tri-Ni-Set that controls the Vongola rings. I saw a flash of Delimik's memories where you and Vongola Primo defeated him all those years ago. He had turned against humankind, wanting to eliminate every single last one of them, and Vongola was eventually called in. Delimik despised how humans lived and that eventually consumed him whole. Pitiful case."

The demon chuckled, nodding his head towards each one. "I honestly don't really know what set him off, both Stella and myself figured out pretty fast in the beginning that his hatred would never disappear." The sword was restored within moments, time magic reversing everything on the blade to the point where it looked like it was brand-new. "What do you plan to do about the information on me? You understand that you are contracted with an extremely powerful demon. Just so you know, controlling time is my specialty. That doesn't mean I can't use any other types of magic though and because of my abilities, I'm considered one of the top twenty demons in terms of strength."

Reborn didn't answer, simply looking at his reflection through the blade. His eyes peered up at the flying demon, watching as questions slipped through those honey-colored eyes. Tsuna wanted to know, he wanted to know what would change in their relationship. "Honestly? Nothing, I see no harm in having you around. I'm actually enjoying your irritating presence."

The demon hummed gently to himself as he ignored the alleged insult before floating closer, bringing their faces closely together. Before long, their lips connected and Tsuna watched as the human's eyes widened in surprise at the sudden kiss. The brunet chuckled in amusement and reached forward, grasping a fistful of Reborn's dark locks to prevent any chance of retreat. He tilted his head to the side, deepening the kiss, and listened in satisfaction when the human moaned gently. Their tongues mixed together eagerly, trying to gain dominance with the demon winning. He listened to another deep moan crawl up from the back of Reborn's throat. Braking apart, Tsuna pulled back to gain some distance. "Hmm, I think I just might reward you with something later today once this whole mess is dealt with." He licked his lips, his fingers trailing down the human's face seductively before rubbing his thumb tenderly into a cheek. He could feel the other shiver at his touch and leaned in closer, sensing the other humans on their way. "Listen, I'll remain close by. If you feel that the battle is going badly, don't hesitate to call. You and I both know that you'd rather have everyone come out alive and well than severely injured or dead." As a side note, Tsuna added under his breath, "I'm surprised that blonde hasn't said anything about me to the others yet though…"

"Y-Yeah…" Reborn stuttered, biting down on his bottom lip as he pushed back the desire to extort another kiss. His eyes stared at those lips, wanting nothing more than to ravish them. "You'll find a way to get Delimik out into an area where we can attack, right?"

"Yes, it shouldn't be very hard. Don't worry, you can rely on me to get the job done." Tsuna perked up slightly as the footsteps were getting closer to their location and gently flapped his wings to push him back. "I'll go now. Be careful, Reborn."

The hunter nodded his head, watching as the demon retreated into the darkness, just as his allies came into view. He peered at each one carefully, looking over their surprised expressions to see him doing so well. Smirking, he went straight into the plan he had with the demon, ignoring the glances from Luce, who hadn't spoken a word about his little demonic companion.

* * *

The battle with the fallen god hadn't been as hard as Reborn had originally expected. He had guessed it would be a long bloody battle to put him down, but instead, it had taken just a single swipe from Fong with the sword and Delimik had fallen instantly with a loud scream. The contracted hunter had surmised that the god had been incredibly weakened from Tsuna while the others believed he had been weakened from lack of battles. The strength of the electric attacks had weakened in power and it was clear that the god was exhausted. Tsuna must have outright viciously attacked the him and purposefully placed him in their location to be finished off.

Reborn smirked as he watched the god vanish in a bright light, glad that this whole mess was done and over with. Though he hadn't been able to do much, it didn't matter now that the god had been killed off. This time, Tsuna had made sure to not seal him away, finding it too annoying to bother. As the hunter turned to the side to look at everyone, his eyes caught sight of the brunet in the trees, hiding away from view and smirked. When they caught sight of each other at the same time, they gave a friendly nod and Reborn almost snorted in amusement at how close they were acting.

Soon after, there had been a celebration as the temple literally partied being free at long last. There were, of course, some who were still hesitant about the whole god ordeal and kept themselves quiet in the back, but that didn't bring the party down at all. The demons that had been attracted to Delimik had run away, only a small handful lingering. Still, those were easier to take care of than the massive numbers from before. That night, everyone was happy that things were over and the mission complete. Luce was absolutely thrilled that no one had been injured too badly, everyone coming out alive and well. She still had a questioning stance towards Reborn, but didn't think too much of it. She trusted Reborn and it wasn't hard to figure out that the battle with the god had gone far too well considering the previous matches. From the look on the hunter's face, Tsuna had clearly interfered. Smiling to herself, she helped cook meals with the remaining items to keep everyone full and satisfied.

Reborn eventually went off on his own, wanting to head to bed now that everything was complete. That and he wanted to actually talk to Tsuna. It was unusual not having the demon constantly by his side. He settled into his room, leaning against the head of the bed and sighed at the peacefulness. Reborn was glad that everything had ended well; he was now ready to leave China altogether. He wanted to get home as quickly as possible and get back to work since he got nothing out of this one. Sliding down the bed, he rested his head against the pillow and stared out the window, gazing into the distance.

The outside was nice. The moon was high up in the sky, giving off light that alleviated the world from the darkness of the night. He was expecting for the demon to show up and snuggle up against his body at any moment – a common occurrence he had grown used to. He was also prepared for the other to attack him in bed, resulting in some great sex. Reborn almost wanted to pout, though Tsuna had stated he could take charge, it was still a challenge to get the brunet under him. He would get the chance to dominate the demon - he would make sure of it.

 _Thump_!

Reborn shot up, immediately reaching for his gun that was sitting on the nightstand to take aim. The covers were thrown off with his hair all messed up and spiked everywhere. He glared at the intruder who interrupted his rest. However, the sight he saw before his eyes made them widen in shock instead, his mouth hanging open slightly. He blinked, wondering if he was just going crazy, but a heavy moan snapped him back to reality.

There was Fong in the middle of the room, hair ruffled and loose from the braid with his pants missing. His bright red robe was unbuttoned, hanging off those smooth unblemished shoulders. His cheeks were stained as red as his robe, moans slipping through those open lips uncontrollably, and he threw his head back to let out a small cry, his body shaking in response. Those long thin legs were quivering, threatening to collapse under him, and a very noticeable bulge was in-between his thighs. Those normally dark eyes that were calm and collected were instead filled with desire and lust, unfocused. They weren't looking at Reborn, no they were looking at the person behind him with snake-like hands moving all over his body, teasing him endlessly.

"F-Fong?!" Reborn was sitting up, dropping his gun in shock, and was about to get to help when Tsuna popped his head out from behind the Chinese man. A wild grin adorned his face.

The brunet's hands continued to relentlessly attack younger hunter, pumping that bulge underneath, while his other hand was playing with Fong's chest, pulling at the nipples. Those once honey-colored eyes were an orange hue and those red lips kissed along Fong's neck before reaching the ear, licking the exterior skillfully. Another long moan escaped the Chinese man's lips before he could stop himself.

"So, Reborn," There was a pause as that hand messing with Fong's front went to the back, the human's hips flexing forward with a small cry. The hunter on the bed couldn't get a clear view what was happening behind but he had a feeling from the way his friend's hips bucked. Tsuna's fingers were inside, driving Fong mad with pleasure as they hit that bundle of nerves with accurate thrusts. "I said that I was going to treat you earlier, didn't I? Here's your chance, Reborn."


End file.
